Developer Ben Carter. Courtesy The Wilbert Group.

Editor’s Note: Last week, a publicist for Atlanta developer Ben Carter offered an interview and tour of Broughton Street to GPB Savannah. Carter says he’s investing $100 million in redeveloping the popular shopping district, and the publicist said this would be a chance for Carter to share his vision with GPB. Reporter Emily Jones sat down with him this week. They started with the interview - and never made it to the tour. Read on to find out why. Here’s a transcript of that conversation, edited for length and repetition, and excluding words like “um.”

Emily Jones: What is it, first of all, about Savannah that makes it the right place for a development project like this?

Ben Carter: Well, Savannah is obviously an old city and is the largest historic district in America. And I’ve been in the retail and the mixed-use development business for my whole life, and I noticed in Savannah that...Broughton Street, which is the former high street of Savannah, had a lot of vacancy on it, but it also had a lot of great local retailers as well as national retailers...The national stores that are here are Gap and Banana [Republic] and Urban Outfitters and Anthropologie, and in my business they’re known as being the pioneers to start a rejuvenation of a lot of urban markets around the country. So, when I saw them here, saw the good locals, saw the extent of vacancy, I started talking with some of my retailer friends and it seemed like Savannah was a place where a lot of people wanted to consider expanding. So we started our project.

EJ: Ok, and then sort of on the other side of that, why is this particular project and these particular stores the right project for Savannah?

BC: Well, Savannah demographically is a greater metropolitan population of about 800,000 people, and it has 13 million tourism visits. If you contrast that to Charleston, the population’s about 40,000 less and the tourism is 4 million versus 13 million, which is a really unknown fact. Savannah’s tourism business is huge. And so, there’s not a lot of shopping here like there is in Charleston and other great tourism venues. So we want to do both retail, restaurants, and try to revitalize Broughton Street in the process.

EJ: Great, now, a lot of the places that you’re talking about bringing in are national brands, so what will make this or keep this uniquely Savannah, since a lot of places do have a lot of the national brands?

BC: Well, the national brands are important to raise the foot traffic in terms of sales potential. These national brands are international brands as well, so H&M is a building that we’re going to build from scratch on an old historic property that burned down years ago. They’re all over the world as a fantastic international fashion brand. And then some of the national retailers who have sales expectations in the 4, 5, 600 dollars a square foot range will increase sales, so the locals should benefit from that. We’re also actively talking to people not only in Savannah but retailers and restaurants that are around the Southeast and in some case brand new rollouts in New York and LA and other places. So it’s not all about nationals, but the nationals set the stage for emerging retailers to feel more comfortable with the market.

EJ: Now you mention the new construction of the new building for H&M, and one of Savannah’s biggest draws is its beautiful, old historic buildings and all the history here. So how do you envision this project and especially the new things like H&M that you’re planning on building fitting in with the historic Savannah feel and look?

BC: Well, Savannah has a historic review board, who’s a board of professionals that approve all the designs of buildings that are being built. So we’ve received their approval for the H&M building. It’s very much in keeping with the historic district, and their approval endorses that. The rest of our projects are really renovations of old buildings. These buildings are a hundred and fifty to two hundred fifty years old, and they’re in dire need of some tender loving care...So our work here is to restore what we can to its historic, original condition, or as close to it as we can, and we’ve received approvals, again, from HRB for a lot of these efforts. In Savannah, you have design guidelines and there are two ways to approach it: you can stucco over the old facades, or you can uncover the old facades and try to restore the brick and masonry work. The latter is a lot more expensive, but that’s what we’re electing to do because I actually believe in historic renovation.

EJ: So what about the concern that some of these changes and new stores will drive up rent on the street such that some of the local businesses might not be able to afford it anymore and might be forced to leave?

BC: Well, I think I addressed that earlier. If the sales expenditures on the street increase, it’s up to the local retailers to be able to capture that additional market share, and if their sales go up they should be able to pay more rent. That’s America, that’s economic progress. It’s up to the retailers to be able to keep up with their market.

EJ: Ok. And a similar concern is something I’ve also heard with regard to the Tax Allocation District and Community Improvement District that you’ve proposed or asked the city for to help improve the streetscape, and there’s been concern as well that those additional costs, the additional taxes could also make things tougher for small businesses. Is that a possibility?

BC: I don’t know. I mean, I think that’s up to the city. It’s really not my project, it’s just a suggestion.

EJ: So, over the summer you added some like planters and statues and things to the street, and I know a lot of people definitely thought that that was an improvement, especially on some of the vacant lots and things it definitely makes it look better, but there was a little dust-up because there wasn’t actually approval from the city for that. So I’m wondering if something like that has the potential to - I guess - is that a precedent for how some of the rest of this project could go? I mean, are there things that you might just move forward without, necessarily, city approval or city involvement?

BC: That’s a totally inappropriate question, I’m not going to answer it the way you posed it, but I’ll tell you everything I’m doing’s under the city’s approval. You need to get your information correct.

EJ: I don’t think it’s an inappropriate question, because I think that it did raise concern that -

BC: Where are you getting your information from?

EJ: From-

BC: The newspaper?

EJ: Yeah.

BC: The newspaper’s not factual.

EJ: It’s a newspaper.

BC: That doesn’t mean it’s factual. Excuse me, but -

EJ: Ok, did you get city approval to put things like the planters and the statuary and things on your properties?

BC: I don’t need approval to put a statue on my own piece of property, number one. Number two, I did exactly what the city asked me to do regarding the planters. Number three, get your facts correct. If you’re gonna interview me, the press is not always correct. Don’t believe everything you read in the newspaper. Guess what? There are more cases of Ebola than they’re reporting.

EJ: Ok, let me, um - (Carter stands and walks away) Excuse me? I have more questions.

BC: I don’t like the tone of what you’re doing. You’re asking questions about a newspaper report that’s not factual, ma’am.

EJ: Ok.

BC: What kind of journalism is this? (Carter is pacing the area and picking up and slapping down papers on the table during this exchange)

EJ: Ok, can I ask you questions about other things, then? Other than that newspaper report?

BC: I don’t know. (Carter sits.) I’m here to talk to you about facades.

EJ: Ok.

BC: Do you want to talk about facades? Let’s talk about facades. You want to be more dramatic, we can be more dramatic.

EJ: I don’t feel that I’m being dramatic. This is a question I’ve heard not just - (Carter reaches over and turns over the recorder, then stands again.) Please don’t do that. (turns recorder back on) This is a question that I’ve heard not just from the newspaper.

BC: (walking away) I’m sorry. (returns) Let’s wrap it up. (sits)

EJ: I’m sorry?

BC: Let’s wrap it up.

EJ: So, earlier this year you named a date of March 1, 2015 for completion of the finished product on Broughton Street. Is that still your estimated timeline?

BC: Absolutely.

EJ: And around the same time you said that you wanted to make Broughton Street a top-five destination in the country within 18 months. How do you plan on doing that?

BC: It already is. Number three in the country right now most desired places to be. Read the newspapers.

EJ: But you don’t want me to read all the newspapers?

BC: That’s actually a really unfair position on your part. I find this to be an unfair interview. You should come more prepared. You can read on the Savannah Chamber of Commerce website and the tourism, it’s already been ranked as the top third most important place to go visit in America, it’s ranked in the top five in terms of most romantic cities, US News and World Report, Conde Nast, so I would really appreciate if you would do your homework before you come interview me because you don’t have your facts correct.

EJ: I did do my homework. So, how much are you working with local organizations and with other businesses on Broughton Street as you plan especially things like the streetscape that really affects everybody?

BC: I’m having numerous public meetings, including a meeting last week with 200 people, including the Downtown Business Association and the Downtown Neighborhood Association. Are you not aware of that? It was on the newspaper and the TV.

EJ: I am aware of that.

BC: Then why’d you ask the question?

EJ: I’d just like your take on it and to know how much you plan on continuing that in the future.

BC: Of course I will continue that in the future. Thank you very much for the interview, I appreciate your time today.

EJ : Thank you very much as well. (Carter walks away, leaves the office).

Tags: Ben Carter, Broughton Street, Savannah, developer ben carter, interviews, development