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By Eric Curl
Oct. 8, 2026 – The “Weeping Time” site is once again being marketed as “prime industrial land” for sale just two miles from the Georgia Ports.
In addition, an application was recently submitted to demolish the vacant warehouse buildings on the 35-acre site at 204 Old West Lathrop Avenue. A city-commissioned archaeological survey previously identified the property as the former Ten Broeck Race Course, where more than 400 enslaved men, women and children were auctioned in March 1859.
The property was marketed for sale briefly in August 2025 before being taken off the market — a “gracious” favor by the owners to provide time for a local buyer to purchase the property, according to Mayor Van Johnson at the time, as reported by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution in February (Editor’s note: I wrote that article).
Local preservation advocates have been seeking to acquire the property and establish a memorial recognizing the 1859 auction, but efforts have been complicated by the multimillion-dollar cost of purchasing the land.
Finding the funds to make such an investment is the challenge for the organizations seeking to buy the property and recognize the site’s history, and “at some point (the owners) would have to do something,” Johnson said.
That point appears to have arrived.
Savannah Agenda reached out on Sept. 29 to the owner of the property, Tennessee-based IMC Logistics, for comment but has not heard back as of press time. The company purchased the property from Dixie Plywood for more than $30 million in 2022 and it has been vacant since then. A fire at the site destroyed the remnants of a former 1980s-era office building at the site in May 2025, and a demolition permit was granted to tear down the structure shortly after, as previously reported. The latest applications state that the proposed demolitions are not related to any fires.
Danny Chase, with Colliers International, the listing agent for the property said in an email on Sept. 29 that the proposed demolitions are not tied to a sale and was unaware of any redevelopment or planned uses for the site.
The listed property is not part of the controversial site directly to the north at 2305 Augusta Avenue where the Salvation Army had planned to develop a homeless transitional shelter. The Housing Authority of Savannah voted in September to repurchase that property it sold after the Salvation Army failed to begin construction within five years of the May 2021 closing. The development had face opposition partly due to the proximity to the former Ten Broeck Race Course where the slave auction occured. The 2021 city-commissioned archaeological survey concluded the Salvation Army parcel itself was not part of the auction site.
The Rev. Leonard Small, president of the state-created Weeping Time Cultural Heritage Corridor Authority, disputes that the property is back on the market, despite what had still been an active online listing. In an Oct. 23 interview, Small said unnamed government officials have been negotiating with the property owners and that he was informed within the past three months that the property would remain off the market for at least another year. Small, who said the city of Savannah is not involved in the current negotiations, acknowledged he did not know why the property was continuing to be advertised by Colliers.
Small said preservation efforts are focused on acquiring about three acres at the northern end of the former Dixie Plywood property, where he believes the grandstand used for the 1859 slave auction stood. Small also hopes to establish a memorial park on the adjoining property recently reacquired by the Housing Authority of Savannah from the Salvation Army, although he emphasized that the proposal is his personal preference and has not been formally adopted by the authority.
Editor’s note: This article was updated on Oct. 26 to include the comments from Leonard Small.
If you find value in this website, please consider contributing above or via PayPal @SavAgenda to help cover the costs. You can also send contributions via Venmo @Savannah_Agenda. Your support, no matter how much you give, is appreciated and will help ensure the future viability of this community resource. You can also show your support by subscribing below and sharing Savannah Agenda with others via email or social media. Increasing readership is critical to the long-term success of this site.
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