"The stage was small and couldn't accommodate the groups and performing artists we wanted to have," Assistant City Manager Hasco Craver told the Newnan Times-Herald when crews were working at Greenville Street Park. That was the problem the city set out to fix first. In October 2025, the Newnan City Council approved the Greenville Street Park renovation and the new Bicentennial Park together. The two projects cost more than $3.8 million and are paid for with special purpose local option sales tax (SPLOST) money.
A year later, the stage is done. Bicentennial Park is close. The 57 East block on East Broad Street is still at the dirt-and-utilities stage. The calendar for October through December 2026 lands in the middle of all three, and it runs on the order the city chose. Places to gather come first. Everything else is still being built around them.
The First Finished Piece Was Built for Crowds
Greenville Street Park is the part of downtown's rebuild you can already use. The $1,280,786 renovation got rid of the fountain and the pergola to make room for more seating. It also added better audio, visual and electrical service, plus stormwater improvements. The size jump is real. The park went from about 21,000 square feet to about 35,000 square feet, with a covered stage built for larger public events.
The city held the ribbon cutting on July 17, 2026. Mayor James Shepherd, council members Jim Thomasson and Cynthia Jenkins, City Manager Cleatus Phillips, and Assistant City Managers Hasco Craver and Meg Kelsey were there. "This is what SPLOST dollars are meant to do," Shepherd said. The city's event calendar listed a free reopening celebration for Saturday, July 18, with Better Than Better Than Ezra on the main stage at 7 p.m. The ribbon-cutting press release gives the party date as July 19.
The new park also comes with new rental rates, which matter if you're planning a reunion or a club event there. In the fee schedule the council approved, Newnan residents pay $50 an hour for rentals up to four hours, or $300 for anything longer. Non-residents pay $75 an hour, or $450 for longer events. Every rental also needs a $100 security deposit. "We're not going crazy on the fees," Parks and Recreation Director Brent Snodgrass told the council. "We're trying to make it fit in with the rental fees of the other city facilities."
October Puts the New Stage to Work
The summer opening was the big celebration. October is the first stretch where the stage just carries a regular schedule.
Fun Friday with Abbey Road on October 9. Sources disagree on the time. The city's general calendar shows 4 to 7 p.m. The event's registration page and Main Street Newnan both list the concert from 7 to 9 p.m. The Times-Herald calendar gives a 7 p.m. start. Three of the four point to 7 p.m. for the music, so plan around that.
Yoga on the Green every Wednesday in October. The city's Fitness in the Parks series holds yoga at Greenville Street Park from 6 to 7 p.m. on October 7, 14, 21 and 28. This is the quieter use of the bigger lawn. It's a weeknight hour on the same space built for concert crowds.
The Square Keeps Its Own Rhythm
Main Street Newnan's events still center on Court Square and the shops around it. The new park adds venue space without taking any of their weekends. Here is what's left of the fall season as of early October. Oktoberfest already ran on October 2.
| Date | Event | Where and when |
|---|---|---|
| Sat., Oct. 10 | Community Wellness Day, ninth annual | 200 Court Square, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., free |
| Sat., Oct. 17 | Witches Crawl, sixth annual | Downtown, 5 to 9 p.m.; costume contest at Leaf and Bean at 8 p.m. |
| Fri.–Sat., Oct. 23–24 | Oak Hill Cemetery Tours | Check-in at McRitchie-Hollis Museum, 74 Jackson Street; tours every 20 minutes from 5:20 p.m. through 8 p.m. |
| Sat., Oct. 24 | Spirits & Spice Festival | Downtown, 2 to 7 p.m. |
| Sat., Oct. 24 | Autumn Chase | Carl Miller Park; 10K, 5K and one-mile fun run |
| Fri., Oct. 30 | Munchkin Masquerade | Downtown trick-or-treating, 10 a.m. to noon |
| Sat., Nov. 7 | Market Day | Around the courthouse square, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. |
| Sat., Dec. 5 | Market Day | Around the courthouse square, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. |
| Sat., Dec. 12 | CCGS 2nd Annual Holiday Open House | 8 Carmichael Street, 1 to 4 p.m. |
A few entries have more going on than the table shows. True Balance Center for Breath and Bodywork is hosting Community Wellness Day this year, Newnan Natural Pain Relief & Wellness is presenting it, and part of the proceeds goes to Coweta FORCE. Witches Crawl is free and runs past dark. It includes nighttime shopping, tarot and bingo, and the costume contest at Leaf and Bean, 22 W. Court Square, Suite A. Spirits & Spice packs a downtown cocktail trail, a chili cook-off, a trolley tour, live music, a craft market and children's activities into five hours. Market Day fills more than 50 vendor booths, with acoustic "Pickin' on the Square" happening at the same time.
October 24 is the day to plan most carefully. The Autumn Chase at Carl Miller Park, the Spirits & Spice afternoon downtown and the second night of the Oak Hill Cemetery Tours all fall on one Saturday. The festival ends at 7 p.m., and the tours run from 5:20 p.m. to the last 8 p.m. departure, so those two overlap in the early evening.
Bicentennial Park Is the Next Piece to Open
The second park in the 2025 approval is close behind. Bicentennial Park sits on a one-acre site across the street from the depot. Craver said the city bid it together with Greenville Street Park to get a better price, and built the two at the same time. The plans include utilities, art walls, pedestals for sculptures, walking paths, a pavilion, restrooms and parking, along with a connection to the LINC trail system. The budget is $2,547,798, about twice the Greenville Street Park figure.
The city first projected a fall finish. In a more recent Times-Herald update, City Manager Cleatus Phillips said the basic framework is largely complete and the fencing could start coming down soon. He added that historical markers and art installations will go in over the next two years, ahead of Newnan's 200th anniversary in 2028. The city hasn't set an opening date. Expect the gates to open before the park is fully finished, with the art added in stages through the bicentennial year.
The trail link is coming the same way, in pieces. A new LINC section on Cougar Way will continue through Newnan Utilities property to Carl Miller Park, where the Autumn Chase starts. A later phase will run from Cougar Way toward downtown along Boone Drive and Fourth Street.
The Fence on East Broad Street Will Stay Up for a While
The third project runs on a longer clock, and it's the one you'll notice when parking. 57 East is a privately led development by Caldwell Development Investments on the former Caldwell Tanks property at 57 East Broad Street. The company is leasing the land from the City of Newnan during site work and plans to buy it once that work is done. The former Coweta County Administration Building at 22 E. Broad Street has also been acquired for a future parking deck.
Three details from the project's August updates affect how you get around downtown:
- Several parking spaces along East Broad Street are inside the construction fence. They're being removed permanently because the area will become a new vehicle entrance, and the curb, sidewalk, pavement and striping there will be torn out and rebuilt. The update doesn't give an exact count of spaces.
- On Salbide Avenue, crews were taking down the last stem wall of the old Caldwell Tanks building to make room for a new entrance and exit, with a roadway, curb and sidewalk. Underground infrastructure was arriving on site at the same time.
- According to the project timeline, Buildings A and B start vertical construction in January 2027. More buildings will follow in phases from 2027 through 2030, and The Deck at 57 is planned to start in 2030.
The East Broad spaces are gone for good, and the project's structured parking is planned to start construction in 2030. This fall's festivals will still be working around a fenced block. The newest public news from the project came on September 27, 2026, when pre-leasing opened for Buildings A and B. 1828 Property Group is handling commercial leasing and residential sales. The food hall at the center of the plan, Market 57, is still listed with an opening date "to be confirmed." The project's own site puts it simply: "We don't publish specific dates until they are real."
Reading the Order of Work
Put the three projects in a row and the city's priorities show. First came the stage, because the old one couldn't hold the acts the city wanted to book. The park built for the 2028 anniversary comes next, opening in stages. The private block with the food hall, lofts, hotel and parking deck follows over the rest of the decade. If you're downtown on a Saturday this fall, you'll see all three stages at once: a finished venue on Greenville Street, a park about to lose its fence, and a fenced block on East Broad Street that won't go vertical until January.
As October 24 approaches, check the Main Street Newnan event pages for any time changes. Then park with the East Broad Street closure in mind.
If you're trying to figure out what 57 East, Bicentennial Park or the next LINC phase might mean for the streets around your own home, The Joe Carbone Team follows these downtown Newnan projects closely and is glad to talk them through with you. Get in Touch whenever you're ready.
