Savannah council workshop shows detailed options for Civic Center future, final vote set for June

Savannah City Council workshopped potential options for the future of its Civic Center site Thursday, and it provided the most detailed look yet at what paths council will consider for an endorsement.

Council is expected to have three resolutions for consideration at its June 27 meeting, each representing an option presented by City Manager Jay Melder at the workshop. Melder's presentation featured cost-benefit analyses of three potential paths, which was the first time the city provided cost estimates since it kicked off public engagement in early May.

The three options largely mirror the paths Mayor Van Johnson has consistently laid out: keep and renovate the entire complex, including the Martin Luther King Jr. Arena and Johnny Mercer Theatre; demolish the entire complex to restore the grid from the original city plan and build a replacement theater at a different location downtown; demolish the arena and renovate the Johnny Mercer Theatre while restoring about two-thirds of the original city plan.

"I show up to work everyday along with the team to be able to tee up decision points in a way that is going to be credible to the citizens and is also going to respect the kind of decisions that (council) has to make," Melder said in a recent interview when describing his role in the report to council.

The highest-cost option was to keep and renovate the MLK Arena and Mercer Theatre, which had a net cost estimate of $135-$165 million. The next highest-cost option was path two, to demolish the entire site and build a replacement theater. The range for that option is $130-$160 million.

The lowest-cost option was option three, to demolish the arena and restore the theater. That path has an estimated cost range of $90-$100 million, with about $60 million of that devoted to a Mercer Theatre renovation.

"We've tried to be very conservative with revenue estimates and conservative on construction estimates as well," Melder said. "That's kind of our model here when we talk about finances with the City of Savannah to make sure that what we're saying actually bears some truth."

After feedback from council, Melder left with two primary tasks to address before the final resolutions are presented to council for a vote. The first is to work out greater details on the timeline for each path, which he said would be different for all three options. The second is to explore feedback from council members on what equity, a principle adopted by council as a tenet of the administration, would look like on the site.

District 1 Alderwoman Bernetta Lanier said she felt like a full renovation of the facilities, or a total demolition and redevelopment, presented the most opportunities for equity.

District 3 Alderwoman Linda Wilder-Bryan brought up concerns about the need for a timeline, referencing the drawn-out completion of Enmarket Arena as something she did not want to replicate.

"I want to see some movement on this project that we have been talking about forever, so the first thing for me is the timeframe," Wilder-Bryan said.

Somewhat missing from Thursday's workshop were clear indications whether council members endorsed any of the plans at this time. One alderman, District 4's Nick Palumbo, reiterated his longtime support for saving the Mercer Theatre.

Palumbo called the building a "monumental piece of architecture," while saying he recognized that any decision council makes will not make everyone happy.

"It's incumbent upon us to make the most practical decisions that are out there," Palumbo said. "We have the data, we have the information, and the timing is great because we will have the next month to focus on this to come to a decision.

Savannah Civic Center Cost Options by savannahnow.com on Scribd

New insights and deeper details

In addition to providing the clearest look at the direction council is heading for a final decision, Thursday's workshop also gave new insights into specific details city staff had been working out.

For example, the cost estimate to renovate both MLK Arena and the Mercer Theatre included expenses to build underground parking below the site's current surface parking lot. Parking was one of the most prominent concerns of citizens during the public engagement sessions.

Melder also deemed a specific Mercer Theatre renovation option as most "prudent" for the city, one that would be cheaper and less invasive than its alternative. City consultant Akustiks, led by acoustician Paul Scarbrough, offered two potential renovation scenarios in its preliminary acoustics assessment of the theatre.

Scenario one would renovate the existing interior of the theatre with a few "surgical additions" to address the performance hall's shortcomings. An example of this style of renovation is the Eastman Theatre in Rochester, New York. Scenario two would remove the entirety of the existing interior in place of an "essentially new" performance hall within the current shell of the building. An example of this style of renovation is Charleston's Gaillard Center.

Melder said scenario one was the "prudent" option.

Lastly, the potential municipal office building that was initially presented in a 2022 presentation of the middle-ground plan was left out as a formal recommendation of Melder's presentation's Thursday. The office was planned as a frontage to Oglethorpe Avenue. It's now posited as an "infill site," with the potential for retail, commercial and office space.

"It can be a component of each of the three options, because right now that land is just open space, it's green space," Melder said.

Evan Lasseter is the city and county government reporter for the Savannah Morning News. You can reach him at ELasseter@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Savannah council workshop shows detailed options for Civic Center future