Demolition crews clear abandoned Macon hotel set to be imploded on New Year’s Day

For more than five decades, the 16-story hotel has towered over downtown Macon. The building has seen five different owners, opening as the Hilton Hotel in 1970, and last operating as the Ramada Plaza before closing in 2011.

MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) –Macon-Bibb County is set to demolish the former Ramada Plaza on 108 First Street on New Year’s Day.

For more than five decades, the 16-story hotel has towered over downtown Macon. The building has seen at least five different owners, opening as the Hilton Hotel in 1970, and last operating as the Ramada Plaza before closing in 2011. After years of lying vacant, theft and vandalism on the property, and attempts at rejuvenation, Macon-Bibb County intervened.

“Hearing the plans that people had, not having seen the building, not aware of the code issues, we said we’ve got to step in and clean this up,” said Alex Morrison, the Executive Director of the Macon-Bibb County Urban Development Authority.

Morrison says several groups have tried to restore the property and capitalize on the recent success of the downtown area. But as time passed, mold and water began to fill the lower levels of the building. Deciding that renovations would be too expensive and bring potential harm to the city, the Macon-Bibb Commission purchased the property for $4.5 million to bring it to the ground and start over.

“We were able to pounce on it and create a spark of opportunity for this block instead of it continuing to be a mark of gloom on our skyline and of this quadrant of downtown,” Morrison said. 

While the exact plans haven’t been finalized, mayor Lester Miller says he envisions a walkable downtown area, meaning visitors can park their cars and travel by foot to everywhere they want and need to go for several days. To achieve this, Miller says downtown Macon needs more hotels on the First Street side of the Ocmulgee River.

“This place would make a nice hotel convention center where people could have a walkable downtown,” Miller said. 

Miller says despite the growth and success downtown Macon has seen, the area has been limited by the abandoned hotel. After clearing the property, the county will work with a developer to determine what’s next.

“By the county exercising the right to get this property, we can control the future development here, which we intend to do,” Miller said. 

The implosion is scheduled for 9 A.M. on Wednesday, January 1, 2025. Macon-Bibb County commissioners agreed to appropriate nearly $2.5 million for Target Contractors to carry out the demolition. Miller expects the county to get the money back through SPLOST next year.