"It's been a long time coming."
Savannah Tech president Kathy Love looked out into a crowd of donors and supporters seated in what will soon become the main floor of the Savannah Culinary Institute.
Credit: R.J. Smith / For Savannah Morning News
Credit: R.J. Smith / For Savannah Morning News
After 11 years, Savannah Tech's plans to open a culinary institute downtown are coming to life. The 166-year-old building on 7 West Bay St. was purchased by the Savannah Tech Foundation in 2018 for $2.9 million.
Exposed brick walls, ceilings and concrete floors will be transformed into four levels of space intended to expand and develop the workforce and provide more learning opportunities for culinary students.
The street level, or main floor, will house a bakery and teaching kitchens with a grab-and-go counter that will be open for lunch and dinner, pastry/finishing showroom and a culinary and baking kitchen. The second floor will include two teaching labs: a culinary arts teaching lab and a bakery and pastry teaching lab.
Credit: R.J. Smith / For Savannah Morning News
Credit: R.J. Smith / For Savannah Morning News
A demonstration kitchen on the third floor will be fully open to the public, allowing visitors and groups that come into Savannah to take classes and learn skills like rolling sushi or baking a wedding cake from students. A seminar room and a herb library adorned with a living herb wall and a garden balcony will accompany the demonstration kitchen. The basement will include a wine bar, wood-fired oven and a theatre kitchen.
The building design and construction will be in the hands of Hansen Architects and the Pinyan Company, respectively. Both companies have completed several projects in downtown Savannah and said they look forward to the efforts in making the culinary institute a reality.
Credit: R.J. Smith / For Savannah Morning News
Credit: R.J. Smith / For Savannah Morning News
"It's going to give people an opportunity to really learn a trade here and food service in culinary, and we're just excited to be a part of it and see the whole building kind of come to good use moving forward," said Paul Hansen, president of Hansen Architects.
Daniel Pinyan, the founder of Pinyan Company, estimated the project will start in mid-August with a timeline of 10 to 11 months, right in time for the start of a new school year.
Savannah Tech's culinary arts program is a two-year program. With the completion of the institute, second-year students will move into the expanded campus building along with baking and pastry arts students and some hotel, restaurant and tourism management students.
Credit: R.J. Smith / For Savannah Morning News
Credit: R.J. Smith / For Savannah Morning News
It will meet a need that chef Gearry Caudell, the culinary department head at Savannah Tech, said has been missing.
"We try to do what we can to be able to get our students in front of those clientele to be able to have those interactive services, but this is going to be the real money opportunity here. And this is something that's been a huge missing piece of the puzzle that we haven't really been able to have until now."
Laura Nwogu is the quality of life reporter for Savannah Morning News. Contact her at LNwogu@gannett.com. Twitter: @lauranwogu_
This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: 11 years in the making, Savannah Tech's downtown culinary institute is a dream coming to fruition
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