Every New Name at Habersham and 37th Started Somewhere Else First

For years the restored gas station at 410 E. 37th Street held one short-lived business after another. Its most recent tenant was Baby's, a tiny neighborhood snack shop that, as Eat It & Like It put it, had "a very short run." Across Habersham Street, Narobia's Grits & Gravy served the corner for 23 years. At the end of March, both buildings were waiting on new tenants.

By the time Maizal cuts its ribbon on November 5, three corners of this intersection will have new occupants. One business already ran restaurants in Rincon and Port Wentworth. Another spent three years parking a converted school bus around town. The third grew out of a pop-up run from another restaurant's ghost kitchen. Habersham and 37th has become the place where tested food businesses open permanent locations, and the city's permits tie two of them to the corner as long as their current operators run them.

Twenty-three years, then a handoff

WTOC reported in March that Narobia's Grits & Gravy would close on March 28, 2026, after 23 years, because its owner was ready to retire. On this corner, Narobia's was a breakfast-and-lunch anchor that had been in place longer than most of the newer buildings along Habersham.

The space at 2019 Habersham Street did not sit empty long. Romano Italian Grill Downtown held its grand opening on Tuesday, September 22. The Greater Savannah Black Chamber of Commerce described it as part of a locally owned brand that already operates in Rincon and Port Wentworth. The Savannah Morning News confirmed that Romano opened in the former Narobia's location.

That background sets the pattern for the whole intersection. Romano arrived on Habersham as the newest location of an established local brand, serving pizza, pasta, sandwiches, salads and desserts. The pizza list includes an Asiago, Applewood Smoked Bacon & Chicken pie, a Chicken Pesto, a Prosciutto Arugula and a Crispy Chicken Parm. Romano's website lists these hours for the week of October 24 through 30:

• Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
• Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.
• Sunday, 3 p.m. to 9 p.m.

The Sunday opening comes later than the rest of the week, so check before planning an early Sunday lunch.

The bus that needed an address

The gas station corner went to a business that had spent three years trying to find a permanent home. Slow Fire BBQ has the longest path to Habersham and 37th of the three newcomers:

1. January 2023. Pitmaster Terrance Williams launches Slow Fire as a food truck built from a converted school bus, and it starts showing up at Starland Yard, according to Connect Savannah.
2. 2025. The bus sets up on Waters Avenue with hopes of making it permanent. It does not work out.
3. April 14, 2026. Eat It & Like It reports that Slow Fire is moving into the old gas station at 37th and Habersham. Williams describes a buildout with "a kitchen and a pit room" that "SHOULD take 5-6 months." Meanwhile the bus parks on site Thursdays through Saturdays.
4. June 23, 2026. The Metropolitan Planning Commission approves a special use permit covering alcohol sales at 410 E. 37th, where Slow Fire plans to run the small restaurant and general store, as Savannah Agenda reported.
5. September 23, 2026. The Savannah Morning News lists 410 E. 37th as Slow Fire's new home, which it shares with Boxcar Creamery and General Store.

A five-to-six-month estimate from mid-April lands somewhere between mid-September and mid-October. Williams added his own caution to that forecast, and the Eat It & Like It writer capitalized "SHOULD" for good reason. The bus schedule has kept the barbecue coming while construction continues. Slow Fire's site lists Thursday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. or until sold out. Its online ordering page shows a different Saturday schedule, so confirm before you head over on a weekend.

Permits written for these operators

At Habersham and 37th, the city's approvals came with conditions written for the specific businesses that asked for them.

At 410 E. 37th, Planning Commission staff recommended keeping the site's existing beer and wine approval but opposed adding liquor, citing how close the small property sits to homes. Commissioners removed that restriction and said alcohol questions could go through the city's licensing process. They approved the permit with these conditions:

• Operating hours are limited.
• The approval is nontransferable.

Directly across 37th, Maizal's petition for 2018 Habersham Street, Unit C-1, went before City Council on September 24. Maizal can run a daytime coffee shop by right in the TC-1 zoning district. The special use permit would add private events after hours, and a separate petition would allow alcohol at catered after-hours events. On August 25, the Planning Commission recommended approval with three conditions, according to the City of Savannah agenda:

• The permit is nontransferable.
• The event use is limited to the roughly 1,334-square-foot tenant space.
• Any substantial expansion or change in how the venue operates goes back to the city for review.

Both sets of conditions make the approvals nontransferable, which ties the corner's evening uses to Slow Fire and Maizal by name.

A pop-up gets a corner of its own

Maizal is the newest arrival and the one with the most unusual start. The Savannah Morning News reported in April that Bogotá native Marisol Borrego developed the concept in 2024 through the ghost-kitchen pop-up program at Big Bon Bodega, which was set up to create opportunities for local food entrepreneurs. Big Bon Bodega partners Kay Heritage and Shahin Afsharian are opening it as a café and event space, and the paper called it Savannah's first gluten-free Colombian café.

"Marisol's concept for the menu at Maizal focuses on handmade Colombian cuisine, offering something new for local residents and visitors."

Heritage said this in a press release quoted by the Savannah Morning News.

Maizal fills the corner commercial unit at The 912, a mixed-use project in the Starland District. When Savannah Agenda covered the plans in 2023, The 912 called for three three-story buildings. Two would hold six residences each. The third, closest to the corner, would have ground-floor commercial space with two residences above it. Maizal's space will offer indoor and outdoor seating and off-street parking, which is uncommon this close to Starland.

The menu is planned around homemade arepas, Colombian-inspired bowls, handmade pastries, locally roasted Colombian coffee and smoothies. The Savannah Morning News showed the space under construction in its October 7 edition. On October 20, Eat It & Like It described Maizal as opening "very soon." The Savannah Area Chamber lists the ribbon cutting for Thursday, November 5, from 11 a.m. to noon. The ribbon cutting is a ceremony, so Maizal may serve its first regular customers before or after that date.

The corner as of late October

Savannah Agenda places 410 E. 37th in the Thomas Square neighborhood, and the city's filing places 2018 Habersham in the Starland Historic District. That makes this intersection a border between two named neighborhoods, which may explain why none of these openings shows up in roundups focused on Bull Street. The quickest way to see this year's changes is to walk all three corners on a Thursday or Friday afternoon, when Romano and Slow Fire's posted hours overlap.

At McIntosh Realty Team, we keep track of changes like these across Midtown, down to the conditions the city attaches when a corner storefront changes hands. If you're wondering how changes on a particular corner might affect a home nearby, Contact Us and we'll share what we know about that block.