Big things are happening in downtown Moultrie . Just ask Hal Carter , a developer who specializes in historic renovations . His company is currently renovating the former Belk Hudson Department Store on Central Avenue . The store , open from the 1940s until the 1970s , consists of the two buildings that were constructed in the late 1800s . An earlier renovation combined the two buildings into one – a monumental feat that involved removing a thick , brick wall that ran between the two buildings from basement to roof . Once complete , the renovated building will be mixed-use , with eight loft apartments on the second floor , two more apartments on the main floor ( one of which will be handicapped-accessible ), and two commercial spaces . Carter laughingly says , “ I let two people talk me into renting apartments even before I started the renovation ! But they ’ re good tenants who are very invested in the project and have been since Day One . I semi-customized the apartments for them , which is not something I normally do . The tenants tell me they ’ ll remain in the apartments until they move to the nursing home or the funeral home !” The project is expected to be completed by September or October . There ’ s excitement about these apartments , what with their high ceilings ( the lowest ceiling is 10 ’ 6 ”) and large spaces . “ This is a very unusual , very unique property – large lofts that retain their historic character ,” explains Carter . The tenants who will live in these apartments choose to be within walking distance of restaurants , shops , and offices . Carter isn ’ t new to this type of painstaking renovation . In fact , this is his third historic-renovation project in downtown Moultrie . His first project there was the former
original 1800s building that burned down . The hotel was rebuilt as a fireproof building , with four floors constructed of concrete instead of wood . The renovated space includes thirteen loft apartments on the upper floors and commercial space on the first and second floors . Carter ’ s next foray in downtown Moultrie was the renovation of an historic building in front of City Hall . The prior owner had left the building dormant for years . After a section of the roof blew off in a storm , the building was pronounced a public hazard , and City Hall pressured him to tear it down . Faced with paying upwards of $ 60,000 to remove it , the owner instead chose to call Carter and offer him the building . “ I drove by and saw the certificate for demolition posted out front .” That ’ s how he came to acquire it the building , previously the Chrysler-Plymouth- Dodge dealership . Carter gutted the building and converted it into six loft apartments and four commercial spaces . When asked how this Sylvester native first developed his interest in historic renovations , Carter explains , “ Back in the 1990s in Sylvester , I used to see the old Woolard Hotel that was built in the 1900s and 1905 ( originally two hotels side-by-side ). The hotel went bankrupt during the Depression and was bank-owned for years . The first female postmaster in Georgia ended up buying it and made it successful . “ I hated to see such a beautiful building go down , so I bought it from her heirs . We renovated it into true loft apartments , like something you would see in New York City , with hardwood floors and historic features lovingly restored . And that was my first historic-preservation project .” Carter may be best known for a former hotel ( built in 1827 ) that he renovated in nearby Bainbridge . During the
Colquitt Hotel , a 1927 building which itself replaced the |
Civil War , the hotel building served as a stagecoach dock for |
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Spring / Summer 2021 |