Most of what changed in the Starland District this fall came from operators the neighborhood already knew, and most of it happened inside rooms that were already there. Kyle Jacovino rebuilt the menu at Pizzeria Vittoria. The Late Air team opened a second spot a few blocks from its first. Leopold's moved into a vacant storefront. Slow Fire BBQ settled into a converted snack shop. The newest construction on the corridor is a three-building complex at Habersham and 37th, and none of its planned tenants has opened yet.
If your Friday night pizza, your coffee stop or your after-dinner ice cream run feels a little off, here is where each one went.
Two New York slice shops, a block apart
The biggest change involves the pizza Starland was best known for. In July, Eat It & Like It reported that Pizzeria Vittoria at Starland Yard would close from July 31 through the end of August for a full rebuild. That meant a new deck oven, a reworked kitchen and a menu written from scratch. The reopening plan Eat It & Like It described called for 18-inch New York-style pies, pizza by the slice and the return of old-school meatball grinders, all made with naturally leavened dough. By September, Savannah Morning News reported that Vittoria had made the switch to New York-style pizza.
The scale of that change shows up against what came before. Jacovino opened Vittoria seven years ago as Savannah's first naturally leavened Neapolitan pizzeria. Food & Wine named it the best pizza in Georgia, and Eat It & Like It described it as the only address in town for true Neapolitan. Those pies didn't go away. They moved to Lucia Pasta Bar, Jacovino's sister restaurant at 2425 Bull St. Per Eat It & Like It, Lucia had been taking over the Neapolitan lineup for about a year. Savannah Morning News confirmed in September that Jacovino is serving them there.
In the same weeks, the team behind Late Air at 2805 Bull St. opened Specials Pizza at 2520 De Soto Ave. Savannah Morning News describes it as a neighborhood pizzeria and bar with New York-style slices and pies, cocktails, beer and zero-proof drinks. Resident DJs Zac Benton and Hunter Condron play records. The AJC's Savannah dining column placed the September opening on a quiet side street along the Bull Street corridor just north of Victory Drive. The menu has four specialty pizzas, including one with mushroom, garlic and crème fraîche, plus calzones, meatballs and a chopped salad.
So a district that had one celebrated Neapolitan oven last spring now has two New York-style slice counters within a short walk of each other. The Neapolitan pies are still in Starland, at Lucia on Bull Street.
2400 Bull Street swapped two of its storefronts
The second shift happened inside one building. Savannah Agenda calls 2400 Bull St. a commercial anchor of the corridor. In June its tenants included Sola Salon, F45 Training, Brochu's Family Tradition and Garden Square, and a storefront left empty by the closing of Lite Foot Company. By October, both the Garden Square space and the empty Lite Foot space had new occupants.
The Larrikin Coffee Bar and Cafe moved into the former Garden Square space after Garden Square closed in mid-2026. Its address is Suite 6, with the entrance on 40th Street. The chef is Michael Toscano, a three-time James Beard Rising Star Chef with businesses in New York City and Charleston, and Natasha Conyers runs the bar. Savannah Morning News lists hours of 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday, with Sunday brunch from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. The Hot Dog Happy Hour runs 4 to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday, with $5 hot dogs, $5 draft beers, $3 High Life ponies, $3 shots, $7 wines and $9 cocktails. Coffee and breakfast are served all day.
Leopold's Ice Cream took the Lite Foot space. The Historic Preservation Commission approved its pink neon wall sign on June 24. WTOC reported that the shop would open at noon on Friday, Oct. 2, with a ribbon cutting scheduled for 12:01 p.m. Leopold's was founded in Savannah in 1919 by three brothers from Greece. This is its first shop on the Bull Street corridor, well south of the flagship parlor at 212 E. Broughton St., where the line often runs down the sidewalk. The company's shop page lists Starland hours as 4 to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday, noon to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and noon to 9 p.m. Sunday. On weeknights, the Starland shop doesn't open until late afternoon.
Here's the fall's new map in one place:
| If you used to go to | For | Now go to |
|---|---|---|
| Pizzeria Vittoria, 2411 De Soto Ave. | Neapolitan pies | Lucia Pasta Bar, 2425 Bull St. |
| Pizzeria Vittoria, 2411 De Soto Ave. | New York-style slices and grinders | Same address, new menu |
| Late Air, 2805 Bull St. | The Late Air team's cooking | Also Specials Pizza, 2520 De Soto Ave. |
| Garden Square, 2400 Bull St. | Coffee and a casual bite | The Larrikin, 2400 Bull St., Suite 6 |
| Broughton Street | Leopold's | Leopold's Starland, 2400 Bull St. |
| A food truck at 37th and Habersham | Slow Fire BBQ | Slow Fire BBQ, 410 E. 37th St. |
37th and Habersham is where the new ground is
That last row leads to the part of the district where new space is being added.
Slow Fire BBQ used to run as a food truck at the corner of 37th and Habersham. Savannah Agenda reported that it planned to take over the small restaurant and general-store space there and eventually add a kitchen on site. In April, Slow Fire's pitmaster told Eat It & Like It that the move into the former Baby's snack shop would include a kitchen and a pit room, and that the build-out would take five to six months. By late September, Savannah Morning News listed Slow Fire at 410 E. 37th St., sharing the address with Boxcar Creamery and General Store. Slow Fire's ordering page lists pickup at that address, with online orders taken Thursdays and Fridays from 11 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.
The recently built three-building, three-story mixed-use complex at Habersham and 37th is the closest thing to new ground on the corridor. In September, Savannah Agenda reported that the Metropolitan Planning Commission had approved a small private event venue there. It would host catered events by reservation for fewer than about 40 people, generally from 3 to 9 p.m. on select evenings. The venue would sit alongside a planned coffee shop and a gluten-free cafe. Those businesses are planned, not open. One gluten-free concept already has a name. In April, Savannah Morning News announced Maizal, a gluten-free Colombian cafe and event space at The 912, from Big Bon Bodega partners Kay Heritage and Shahin Afsharian with chef Marisol Borrego. The announced menu includes arepas, Colombian-inspired bowls, pastries and Colombian coffee, with a fall 2026 opening target.
A few blocks west, the eastward spread is also going through existing buildings. Savannah Agenda reported that a proposed South American-inspired restaurant at 10 E. 41st St. would convert an existing duplex into about 30 indoor seats, with outdoor seating and roughly eight parking spaces. The city approved a special-use permit for alcohol sales there. At its Aug. 27 meeting, City Council approved commercial zoning for seven properties clustered near E. 40th and Drayton, allowing a broader mix of commercial and residential uses while barring non-owner-occupied short-term vacation rentals.
Taken together, the corridor's newest openings and approvals point east, toward Drayton, Abercorn and Habersham, and away from the original blocks around Bull and De Soto.
The dates on the calendar
The district's recurring night out stays where it has been. Two dates are set, and Starland Yard runs its own First Friday:
- Friday, Nov. 6, 5 to 9 p.m. ARTS Southeast's November First Friday at 2301 Bull St., with open studios, gallery receptions, a residency finale and extended hours at Studio Books.
- Friday, Dec. 4, 5 to 9 p.m. ARTS Southeast's December First Friday at the same address, with the same open studios, receptions, residency finale and late Studio Books hours.
- First Fridays at Starland Yard, 2411 De Soto Ave. A recurring free event with live music, food and beer. The Oct. 2 edition ran from noon to 10 p.m., so check the venue's calendar for November and December times.
On a First Friday, you can walk from the 2301 Bull St. galleries past Lucia and Leopold's at 2400 Bull, over to Starland Yard and Vittoria's new slice counter on De Soto, and on to Specials at 2520 De Soto.
If you live near the Bull Street corridor and want to know how this fall's openings, and the new building at 37th and Habersham, might figure into your home's value, Kelly Strojny and the team at Vaden Realty Group follow Starland block by block. Start with your Get Home Value estimate, and we'll talk through what's changing on your corner.