Abandoned area to be re-imagined in Pleasant Hill Historic District

“This abandoned area will once again live as a center of the community, and that is truly what makes today a great day for Macon-Bibb County,” Macon-Bibb County Mayor Lester Miller said.

MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – Macon-Bibb County Mayor Lester Miller, along with Macon Housing Authority CEO Mike Austin and Erion Smith from the Pleasant Hill Neighborhood Organization (PHNO), announced the Re-imagine Civic Commons Project in the Pleasant Hill Historic District on Wednesday.

The project aims to re-imagine one of the abandoned areas in the district, near the corner of Madison Street and Walnut Street, by adding 64 affordable residential and commercial units and connecting the area to various parts of Macon to breathe life back to the neighborhood.

Mayor Lester Miller said the Pleasant Hill neighborhood suffered after being split in half years ago, and with the acquisition of recent funds, brought about the Re-imagine Project, he says the main goal is to bring more of the population back to the area to save historic locations.

Funding for the project comes from Low Income Housing Tax Credits granted by the Department of Community Affairs and part of $7.5 million from American Rescue Plan (ARPA) funds that have been used to build other affordable homes around Macon.

“Affordable housing can be a very complex thing to accomplish,” Austin said. “It’s a lot harder than it was 30 years ago when I got into this business, and that’s why we need partnerships.”

“We see that time and time again,” he continued. “Every time the Housing Authority or any affordable housing developer invests in communities, it’s not long before you wake up and all of a sudden it’s an awesome place to live.”

Smith says affordable housing must be truly affordable.

“And it must be the right kind of housing that would complement a rejuvenation and resurrection of the Pleasant Hill Neighborhood and beauty, integrity, and continuing the greatness of our historic Black legacy.”

“I can’t wait until the day when this new couple who cannot afford a place to live is able to get their own key into their own residence here, cook their own meal, catch their own bus, or walk to school and have a successful life and opportunity because of the things that we did today and the things that we’ll continue to do tomorrow,” Macon-Bibb County Mayor Lester Miller said. “This abandoned area will once again live as a center of the community, and that is truly what makes today a great day for Macon-Bibb County.”

According to Mayor Miller, the abandoned building in the area has been checked multiple times by professionals and was deemed unsavable.

Miller says this project is the first step in a long process to revitalize the neighborhood.