The Enmarket Arena is open, and for Savannah, that means a new, larger performance space, headliner concerts and a hockey team called the Ghost Pirates.
For Savannah City Council, the arena creates a new dilemma.
What to do with the Savannah Civic Center?
Credit: Steve Bisson/savannahnow.com
Credit: Steve Bisson/savannahnow.com
City council will answer that question soon. While the Civic Center and the two performance spaces inside — the Johnny Mercer Theatre and the Martin Luther King Jr. Arena — are located on prime real estate in the heart of Savannah’s historic district, the 50-year-old facility has seen better days.
In a Jan. 27 contract amendment, the city said the Civic Center "suffers from severe deferred maintenance and functional obsolescence."
Savannah's previous city council had a vision for the future of the building: Tear it down once the new arena opened, restore Elbert Square, which once stood at Montgomery and McDonough streets, and make six-plus acres of property available for redevelopment.
But it’s not the last council that will make the call, it’s the current one, and city leadership seems keen to keep its options open.
Credit: Bob Morris/savannahnow.com
Credit: Bob Morris/savannahnow.com
Savannah Mayor Van Johnson and Alderman Nick Palumbo have engaged with a group of Savannah-area performing arts leaders who have expressed interest in keeping the Johnny Mercer Theatre intact. The push prompted City Manager Jay Melder to make the civic center's future one of his priorities upon starting his job last September and, ultimately, to the city extending an operating agreement for the civic center to May.
Palumbo called the approval of the contract amendment a "stay of execution" for the Mercer.
The contract in question is a 2019 agreement with Oak View Group to provide programming at the Civic Center and the Enmarket Arena. The group manages both venues, including the day-to-day operations.
That agreement was set to terminate when the new arena opened, meaning no more ticketed events at the Civic Center. The council-approved amendment to the contract extends OVG's management for another 90 days.
The arena opened Feb. 12, meaning the agreement is set to expire May 13.
The move gives city council three extra months to decide on the fate of the Civic Center. The site's future promises to be a frequent agenda item in the months ahead as staff, community members and others present ideas for what's next.
Some say keep it
Since the arena was first approved in 2016, several city officials have voiced a desire to keep the Johnny Mercer Theatre, even after the new arena's completion.
At 2,566 seats, Johnny Mercer fills a performance venue “sweet spot” – it’s larger than the many downtown theater halls, including the 450-seat auditorium that’s part of the Cultural Arts Center next door, yet considerably more intimate than the arena, which can seat 9000-plus for concerts and shows.
The building is centrally located and is perched at the eastern terminus of Interstate 16. The Civic Center is essentially a gateway to those who enter the city via the I-16 flyover.
The venue has long played a multi-faceted role for the community, serving as a hurricane evacuation staging area, an absentee ballot drop box and early voting location and a drive-thru COVID-19 testing site.
At the Jan. 27 council meeting, Alderwoman Linda Wilder-Bryan said she hopes that the Civic Center could still be used in the future for community-centric purposes, specifically supervised activities for Savannah’s youth.
Credit: Steve Bisson/savannahnow.com
Credit: Steve Bisson/savannahnow.com
Palumbo sees value in preserving and renovating the Johnny Mercer Theatre, pointing towards Charleston's Gaillard Center as an example of a fruitful renovation. He and several other city officials visited the venue last year.
The Gaillard was in a state of disrepair following the completion of Charleston’s new civic center, the TD Arena, in 2008.
Much like the Mercer, the Gaillard is located in the heart of the city. Charleston ultimately elected to pay for $140 million in renovations to the building — about 85% of the cost of building the Enmarket Arena from the ground up — adding city offices and sparing no expense to turn the aging stage into a “world-class” performance space.
But there are key differences, one of the most notable being billionaire philanthropist Martha Rivers Ingram donating half the costs of the renovation.
Credit: Bob Morris/savannahnow.com
Credit: Bob Morris/savannahnow.com
Ingram is a board member of the Spoleto USA Festival, an annual event held in Charleston. In deal with the city, Ingram agreed to raise a little over $70 million, and in the process guarantee a venue worthy of the festival.
Palumbo says the Gaillard model could serve as a solid case for renovating the Mercer, especially the need for a public-private partnership.
"The cost of building a development today is even higher than when the Gaillard Center pursued their venture," Palumbo said. "It's not an inconsiderable sum, and what the city really wants to do is look towards a public-private partnership, much like we saw in Charleston, where folks from the community can step up to the plate."
Some say raze it
Credit: Bob Morris/savannahnow.com
Credit: Bob Morris/savannahnow.com
On the other hand, there are proponents of tearing it all down and making something new — or restoring something old.
A 2019 study by the Urban Land Institute, funded by the last council, said the Civic Center should get the bulldozer once the arena was open: tear it down and use the land to reinstate the spirit of the Oglethorpe plan.
ULI’s recommendation would give the city the opportunity to restore one of Savannah’s lost squares. All that remains of Elbert Square, located across Montgomery Street from the Civic Center, is a strip of grass, a sidewalk, a couple oak trees and a few benches — which doesn’t exactly put it on par with Savannah’s other squares, even the smaller ones.
ULI cited the high costs of needed renovations and the "intangible costs of damage to Savannah’s unique historic authenticity."
Another factor to consider is that the National Park Service placed the city’s historic district to “threatened” in 2018, in part due to construction that clashed with the Oglethorpe plan.
Credit: Bob Morris/savannahnow.com
Credit: Bob Morris/savannahnow.com
The NPS report cited redevelopment of the Civic Center site as an opportunity to restore greenspace and the district’s historic street pattern.
Additionally, the area where the Civic Center parking lot now stands could be sold for redevelopment, noting that the property could gross the city anywhere between $3 million and $11 million.
The previous council voted unanimously to approve the recommendation in June 2019.
Some say there’s middle ground
Somewhere between razing the civic center and keeping it intact is a mix of both plans: tearing down the MLK arena side of the Civic Center, but keeping and renovating the Mercer.
The theatre is located on the northern end of the site, slightly overlapping with what would be the edge of a restored Elbert Square.
Savannah Civic Center Redev... by savannahnow.com
Alderman Palumbo sees this approach as a viable path forward. He notes that council has given itself time to explore the community's interest in preserving the Mercer and deciding how to handle "Savannah's next big civic project."
"Once [the Mercer is] gone, it's gone forever," Palumbo said. "but before we cross that bridge, let's think about what it could be, and what we want it to be. What is the next big civic project for us after the arena is done? Now that we have this beautiful arena, we have to have a performing arts space that's on par."
Will Peebles is the enterprise reporter for Savannah Morning News. He can be reached at wpeebles@gannett.com and @willpeeblessmn on Twitter.
This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: As the Enmarket Arena opens, Savannah Civic Center's fate hangs in the balance
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