"Weeping Time" site for sale again, demolition permits submitted

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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. 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.