Savannah Real Estate Developer Martin Melaver
Georgia Trend Magazine
April, 2009

By Randy Southerland

"Going Greener" - Garden City & City of Savannah featured in Georgia Trend Magazine - HERE

Savannah Real Estate Developer Martin Melaver is a bottom line kind of guy.  It's just that his bottom line is focused on the social and environmental impact of the buildings he constructs.

That philosophy has guided Melaver and his third generation family business as it has helped put the city on the map as hotbed for sustainable, green building.

The latest example of that philosophy is reflected in Sustainable Fellwood, once a decaying housing project near downtown, now being transformed into a LEED certified (for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) mixed-income, mixed-use development.

Fellwood will bring together residents of different incomes with a mix of rent controlled and market rate units.  It's a kind of living arrangement you don't see much in modern gated suburbia, but was once common in cities - people of different backgrounds and socio-economic groups all rubbing shoulders. 

The development incorporates energy saving, sustainable building methods that are seldom available to lower income dwellers, and that's a part of the social change Melaver thinks is so important.

"If our utility bills went from $150 to $100 a month it would be nice, but not something that would make the bank," he explains.  "Whereas for a significant portion of the state, certainly the roughly 27 percent living below the poverty level line in Chatham County, that savings in energy alone is pretty significant."

He also believes that if projects like this are to work, they must emerge from the interaction between members of the community and builders.  His company adopted that approach with Fellwood.  The $50 million project is being built for the Housing Authority of Savannah and began not with a grand plan, but multiple partnerships among government agencies, businesses and neighborhood groups.

"As we move forward at every step of the way we're starting to add additional stakeholders who want to get involved," he explains.

The project has grown to include such features as green space, a community garden, health clinic and library, along with retail and office space.  First Tee of Savannah is launching a golfing program for young residents.

With eight LEED-certified projects to its credit, his company has proven that sustainable development can flourish in the most unlikely of places.  He built the nation's first LEED-certified retail shopping center at Abercorn Common, along with a LEED-certified McDonald's.  He was co-developer of Atlanta's first LEED multi-family housing project, Oakland Park.

Melaver's commitment to Savannah stems from generations of family who have lived and built businesses in the city.  His grandmother founded a corner grocery store in 1940 that grew into a supermarket chain.  After selling it in 1986, the family realized it had actually been in the real estate business all along, as the company developed shopping centers, warehouses and offices.  They didn't like it.

"We didn't like the homogenization of place that occurred and the devastation of the environment and disregard for the community," he recalls.  "We evolved into a real estate company and said, 'OK, if we are going to do this we are going to have to do it in a different way.' ""

That realization led the company down its current sustainable path of buildings that demanded less from the environment while still fulfilling the needs of their owners and occupants.