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Fencing goes up at the civic center site, with 300 years of its history on the panels

New panels around the redevelopment site trace what stood on the ground before it.

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Source graphic tracing the Civic Center site's history from Savannah's 1733 town plan through the 1970s arena and the 2026 interpretive fence panels. — Project imageThe Civic Center fence panels trace the site from Elbert and Liberty squares through the arena era and into the current redevelopment.Urban Savannah / Savannah Agenda / City of Savannah

Project contextThe Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Civic Center's arena and arcade, before demolitionCity of Savannah

Published Jul 20, 2026

Construction fencing went up around the Savannah Civic Center site this month, and the panels on it carry something more useful than a developer's logo: nearly 300 years of what has stood on that ground.

The site sits on two of Oglethorpe's original squares, Elbert and Liberty, which were built over when the civic center went up in the 1970s. Restoring them has been discussed for years. The panels are a small thing, but they signal that the history is being treated as part of the project rather than something to build past.

Why it matters

Whether Elbert and Liberty squares come back is the single biggest question in downtown Savannah's plan, and this site is where it gets answered.

What to watch

Whether the redevelopment actually restores the two squares.

LocationCivic Center site, downtown

ScaleTwo original squares

TimelineFencing installed July 2026

WhoCity of Savannah

LinksCity of Savannah

Sources and documents3 sources

↗ Savannah Agenda ↗ City of Savannah ↗ City of Savannah

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