There have been tons of questions over the last few months about the fate of 36 Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd. That’s at the corner of West Congress Street here in Savannah; the building was home decades ago to a pharmacy on the ground floor and a shoe company owned by the Zarem family on the second floor.
If you’ve been following Savannah’s restaurant and bar scene in recent years, you might know the space through any number of businesses that have come and gone: The Sparetime, 606, Fernando’s, Savannah Steak House, Yoshi’s, others only on the second floor like Adagio, and probably even others that I’m forgetting.
Now there’s another restaurant and bar opening there: Ampersand. For this coming weekend, it will only be open as the artists’ lounge for Savannah Stopover, so I’m not quite sure when it will be fully open to the public or when I will be writing in depth about it in one of my City Talk columns.
Unlike most other businesses in the space over the years, Ampersand plans to use all three levels regularly. From the Facebook page:
We specialize in craft beer & cocktails, with a full service restaurant providing fresh, locally-sourced organic ingredients, as well as a music venue and bar on the second floor. Third floor loft space is available for gallery exhibitions, private events, and catering. We also offer outdoor seating, a late-night food window, and a continually rotating selection of local art.
I’ll have more news soon. I bought a VIP ticket for Stopover, so I’m certainly looking forward to checking out the new space right away.