When new windows appeared on the facade of Savannah’s historic Starland Dairy earlier this year, neighbors got a small glimpse into its highly anticipated restoration.
“It’s the first time the building saw light in so long,” says Nate Fuller, who along with his wife, Maggie, purchased the decaying Art Deco dairy in 2012. A construction project manager by day, Nate has been overseeing the building’s rehabilitation on nights and weekends over the past decade.
Eight decades earlier, a group of dairymen joined forces to supply much-needed milk to residents during the Great Depression. Bottled and sold on site or distributed door to door, the milk was a fixture of daily Savannah life before the operation shuttered in the 1980s. For thirty years the bilevel building sat empty—mostly. Vibrant graffitied memories of parties, concerts, and art shows appeared (and remain) in the open-air courtyard where horse-drawn carriages once readied for deliveries. “Our electrician, carpenter, and plumber all played shows here. We’re trying to hunt down pictures,” Maggie says of the dairy’s second life as a makeshift venue.
The Fullers didn’t encounter the building until later, however. During the early aughts, the New Yorkers often visited Nate’s parents on Tybee Island and mused over the vacant site on their way to the beloved former bakeshop Back in the Day Bakery, which sat on the same block. (For the couple’s wedding, Cheryl and Griff Day made the cake.)
By then, a fresh outlook was charging on Bull Street thanks to Savannah College of Art and Design alumni John Deaderick and Greg Jacobs. The historic preservation grads created a master plan for the Starland District and saved buildings, including the eponymous dairy, from potential demolition. The area drew a constellation of local businesses and creative talent, and when the economic downturn created the opportunity, the Fullers bought the dairy in 2012. By 2017, they had relocated to Savannah full time, now with kids in tow, and got to work—slowly but surely.
Securing a loan took longer than expected, Maggie recalls, and then came Covid. But the delay gave the couple time to acclimate to a changing neighborhood, listen to feedback, and adjust. “We met so many great people who had ties to the building, and got to know this little subculture,” Nate says.
“There have been many iterations of our vision for what would go into the space,” Maggie adds. After a stint on Wall Street, she’d worked in beer imports, attended brewing school, and considered opening a brewery. They pivoted when one moved in next door. (“I’m glad we scrapped that. Two Tides is awesome,” she says.)
Starland Dairy’s construction crew has included the women behind Re:Purpose Savannah, a nonprofit that salvages wood and other historic materials. There’s also chef Kyle Jacovino, who will introduce the building’s first concept this spring: Lucia Pasta Bar, featuring negronis on tap and plenty of fresh pasta. Jacovino met the Fullers while leading Hugh Acheson’s The Florence before opening the Pizzeria Vittoria in nearby Starland Yard. (Pizza was another concept the Fullers originally considered, but the timing wasn’t right.)
At the dairy Jacovino dreamed up a fifteen-seat bar and thirty-seat dining room, with bonus courtyard seating and a petite private space. “The whole idea was to keep it small and manageable,” he says. “You couldn’t pay me enough to do a big restaurant right now, with the fluctuation of the economy. You’re going to see small restaurants coming back.”
Plans for the revamped dairy also include a cookbook bookstore, an ice cream shop, and on the second floor, an eight-room hotel and a small bar. By collaborating with fellow entrepreneurs, the Fullers are continuing the co-op spirit of the property’s past.
Other nods to history can be found in design choices like terra-cotta and terrazzo tiles. A custom toile wallpaper by Brooklyn-based Flavor Paper is inspired by a scrapbook passed down from the dairy’s original owners. Other pieces of the building, like the gritty, raw walls in the Lucia and layers of graffiti in the courtyard, will remain as the Fullers found them. On the lobby’s terrazzo floor, an inlaid star glows in the sunlight streaming in through the new windows.
“The Starland Dairy is the pinnacle part of why the Starland District is Starland. It’s the capital,” Jacovino says.
“When it’s all said and done, it’s important to us that we leave space for flexibility and creativity,” Maggie says. “People used to come here to do fun and weird stuff, and we want to give people that space again. We are determined.”
