Just outside the Martin Luther King Jr. Arena’s Mason Room Thursday morning were two pallets of Savannah Grey brick. To the left were black-and-white photographs of King and the civic center, including one of workers installing the sign on the original marquee.
The pallets of brick were pulled from inside the arena itself, salvaged from ongoing deconstruction, a sign of the city's march of progress. The signs drew on the site's over 50-year legacy in light of that progress.
The City of Savanah and residents looked back while moving forward Thursday morning at a commemoration event honoring the arena’s legacy before it is gone. The arena is slated for full removal by the first quarter of 2027 as the site inches towards redevelopment.
“Historic does
not mean dead,” said Savannah Mayor Van Johnson. “Historic means you keep growing and building not only by preserving history, but you also do it by creating new history.”
Roughly 100 current and former city officials, residents and Civic Center employees gathered at the site’s parking lot for the event. Attendees were able to take one brick, paired with a certificate of authenticity, from the pallets. The bricks were removed and salvaged from the arena’s Exhibition Room during the deconstruction.
Savannah Mayor Van Johnson also removed two bricks from the arena’s exterior. Johnson extracted the first brick via crowbar, pulled it from the building then ceremoniously passed it through multiple council members to Savannah City Manger Jay Melder.
Melder then presented the brick to the city’s Municipal Archives and History Officer Luciana Spracher. The brick will stay in the Office of Municipal Archives and History for display in a future exhibit on the Civic Center.
“Today, while we remove a brick from the arena's wall, we place another brick in Savannah's history, building our community stronger and taller for the next generation,” Spracher said.
The arena’s demolition was instituted by Savannah City Council via resolution in June 2024. The resolution instituted a vision for redevelopment of the Civic Center site to tear down the arena, renovate the Johnny Mercer Theater and restore portions of the original Oglethorpe Plan on the site.
Proponents of the demolition said the opening of Savannah’s Enmarket Arena made the civic center arena’s uses obsolete. The facility also faced significant deferred maintenance.
While demolition was considered, residents expressed concern that King’s legacy would be removed from the site. The arena was named for King in 1984 at the request of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and the site was once home to the former Municipal Auditorium where King gave a speech.
In response to those concerns, council renamed the entire Civic Center complex for King in December last year. It instituted the change with a ceremony in January this year.
Now, the city is in the thick of determining what the future of the site will be. It has held multiple public engagement sessions over the past two years exploring options for housing and retail on land open for redevelopment after demolition.
The city is considering a mix of housing and retail crafted through those engagement sessions, a market analysis and land use study, although a final recommendation for redevelopment has not yet been presented to council. The city’s Senior Director of Real Estate and Capital Projects said design for redevelopment is expected to start early next year.
“As we move forward, the city's goal is to honor the legacy associated with this facility while creating a modern, flexible, and inclusive civic center that can serve Savannah for generations to come,” Lawrence said.
Melder quoted King’s declaration that progress never rolls in “on the wheels of inevitability,” adding that it takes careful planning.
Melder also referenced King’s charge for people to “use time creatively.” He said King's words were “apropos” for the moment.
“We know it’s our responsibility to make sure that inevitability is not what happens to the future of this site, but it takes careful planning and work, and deliberate progress to make sure we do use that time creatively,” he said.
“That this space is, as it has been for the last 60 years, a place of community gathering, civic life, and place that memories are built and community is stitched together.”
Evan Lasseter is the City of Savannah and Chatham County government reporter for the Savannah Morning News. You can reach him at ELasseter@savannahnow.com.
This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Savannah honors legacy as MLK Jr. Arena faces demolition
