Funded by a public bond and federal urban renewal program, the Civic Center answered the city’s need for urban revitalization and large-scale event space. Tied to the construction of an overpass, which allowed I-16 direct access to the historic district, the project followed the national pattern of urban renewal. Work began in 1968 with the clearing of approximately seven-and-a-half acres, half of Elbert Ward, along with the southwest tything and western trust lots of Jackson Ward, and necessitated the demolition of Municipal Auditorium (1911–1916, Henrik Wallin), which faced Orleans Square. The Civic Center comprises two principal parts—the Martin Luther King Jr. Arena and the Johnny Mercer Theatre. These spaces are connected by a tall lobby aligned with McDonough Street, which it blocks. Although its size is formidable, attempts were made to make the building appear compatible with the traditional language of the city’s architecture. Its monumental arcade clearly evokes the New Formalism popular during the 1960s, typified by the 1962–1968 ensemble of buildings at Lincoln Center in New York City. The concrete-frame structure is clad in modern Savannah Grey brick and embellished with a colossal blind arcade surrounding the arena and an arcaded porch wrapping the theater. The entire building is enveloped by a margin of green space, with a formal garden on the north side and an asphalt parking lot of nearly two and a half acres to the east. The axis of the former McDonough Street is marked by an allée of magnolias on a swath of grass leading to the east entrance of the lobby. Although much criticized for disrupting the scale and refinement of Savannah’s urban and architectural fabric, the Civic Center has played a vital role as a venue for public events.