We are getting closer to breaking ground on my next infill development project in Thunderbolt, Georgia. I will be pitching my proposal for a two=-story 2,700+/- mixed use building at the northeast corner of Victory Drive and Mechanics Avenue in little old Thunderbolt, Georgia at the May 20th Planning and Zoning meeting. I am posting the proposed design renderings here and linking to the Town’s Facebook pages so that I can be fully transparent and help residents understand the concept before the meeting.
The new Victory Drive Design guidelines for the Town of Thunderbolt helped direct the design of this building. I wanted to go heavy on the personality that lends to the friendliness of the low country. There are ample sunny windows fronting Victory Drive with the dedicated porch that is also required to front the boulevard. The roof is rendered with standing seam metal and I intend to select a colored metal that is timeless and has character complimentary to the neighborhood. As far as the design goes, I believe it’s simplicity is what makes it elegant. I hope that I do not get a lot of pushback from the Town as I have been extraordinarily thoughtful about it.
Since the Victory Drive District promotes a Main Street feel, I focused on the mixed use model. You will notice that for the retail spaces, we have two distinct spaces. Both spaces are roughly 675 sf with a kitchenette and bathroom. At first, I wanted a cafe in the corner space but I do not intend to put a cafe here. I do not want to spend that kind of money on the upgraded sewer.
Upstairs, there are two, walk up one bedroom apartments, each about 650 sf. For this use, the Town requires 2.5 parking spaces per unit. One of the archaic things about the parking guidelines is that anyone developing must give 2.5 spaces per residential unit — it does not matter if it’s a Studio apartment or 4 Bedroom home. These apartments will have dedicated, assigned parking spaces for 1 car each. In the evening after the offices have closed for the day, there will be a plethora of parking spaces for guests.
Tax Short Terms Rentals as Businesses - They are Hotels
Short-term rentals (STVRs), including Airbnbs, are commercial enterprises. They are hotels in disguise—and they should be taxed accordingly. I am qualified to speak on this subject as a real estate broker, developer, and former owner of STVRs (still have two). The inequity in taxation of these properties makes me sick to my stomach and fair warning, if you read this, you will probably feel a bit nauseous as well…
Currently, Georgia’s property tax system allows these operations to be treated as ordinary homes. According to Gemini: “A property in Georgia used as an Airbnb is not typically subject to a separate property tax classification or rate that is identical to a hotel's property tax.” This means highly profitable rentals avoid commercial tax rates, shifting the burden onto local homeowners and renters.
Consider 224 Houston St, branded as “The Present Hotel.” With 15 units and over $950,000 in annual revenue, it recently sold for $5.25 million. Good for them - happy to see their success ( and the place is very cool!).
HOWEVER, in 2024, it paid just $5,361.46 in county taxes—less than what I pay on a 3 Bedroom, 2 Bath + Carriage house rental property I own in Live Oak that generates 1/20th of what their hotel does and that the County continues to rase taxes on each year. This pushes the burden of escalating taxes to my tenants.
Worse, the former out-of-state owners repeatedly appealed its taxable value, slashing its assessment to half its purchase price for years—dodging fair contributions to local revenue.
This isn’t just inequitable. It’s offensive.
Here’s what must change:
Reclassify STVRs as commercial properties. If they operate as hotels, they should be taxed like hotels.
Eliminate the loopholes that let investors slash their property assessments below market value.
Use that revenue to seed a Community Housing Trust Fund that serves local residents, not absentee landlords.
This isn’t anti-tourism. It’s pro-fairness. Pro-housing. Pro-community.
What you can do:
Select your favorite STVR. Collect all of the data you can find on it via their airbnb.com listing (or applicable). Try to estimate how many nights it’s booked and what the average rate is. Find its address as well.
Hop on Sagis.org and find its property tax information. Scroll through the property’s page and look at what it pays in taxes each year. You can also scroll to find out how many times their property has been appealed.
Next, hope onto Zillow and try to figure out how much the property would rent for as a market rate “normal” annual lease. Knowing these numbers, do you feel like STVR’s may be a part of why housing prices continue to go up? What else could be driving these price hikes (hint: policy and uninformed head-in-the-sand city officials. Again, not biased).
Next, do some analysis. If you owned this property, would you rent it short term or long term (duh, you’d do short term because it’s going to produce way more).
Fine. But should it be taxed as a regular house? Or should our elected officials consider taxing STVRs as income-producing properties? I think you know where I stand.
If your hackles are up like mine, consider reaching out to your City Council representative, joining the Yes In My BackYard (YIMBY) group in Savannah, and reaching out to your Board of Assessors.
As always, please feel free to reach out with feedback. Nothing is going to improve unless we push these issues to attention. Thanks for your interest.
Understanding the development proces
Quite frequently I get clients or friends who tell me, “I’d love to do what you do!” It is always lovely to hear and I try to share tips or tell them where to start or how I cut my teeth.
Lately, I’ve been doing online training. I ran across this free course from University of Michigan offered through Coursea. Curiosity got the best of me so I’ve not only taken it but want to promote it to anyone who has ever thought about dipping their toe in the real estate development pool.
The description the instructor gives about how a developer is like the conductor of an orchestra is spot on. It is not unlike real estate agency - juggling, juggling, juggling. This is probably why I enjoy it so much!
I never thought my career path would lead me to develop and become an advocate for housing choice! We need community-driven female developers — if you want to learn, please drop me a line!
This course has a deep community-driven component to it as well. And right now with all the craziness in the world right now, it feels like this is the right time to focus on mission driven development.
If you have thought about doing even just one project, I’d recommend this course. Reach out to me if you do - I’d love to hear what you are working on!