Neighbors excited for progress in Pleasant Hill as homes near completion

MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – Local workers are putting the finishing touches on several refurbished homes in the Pleasant Hill neighborhood. It’s all a part of the neighborhood’s revitalization plan.

They’re the same homes that were ripped in half and moved across town almost in structural disrepair. Now after 18 months of work, builders are almost done with the finished product and the homes are ready for new owners.

It’s the beginning of a new chapter in the story of one of Macon’s oldest neighborhoods.

“The renaissance of Pleasant Hill is happening and to be apart of standing on the shoulders of people who’ve been doing this, struggling to bring the neighborhood back for the last 40 or 50 years it feels incredible,” said Macon-Bibb Community Enhancement Authority Chairman James Beverly.

Turning the page from troubled times, lack of opportunity and GDOT’s I-75’s expansion project to triumphant times.

“There were two reasons for the decline of pleasant hill. What we wanted to do was to try to take care of the neglect that had happened,” said Peter Givens with the Pleasant Hill Neighborhood Improvement Group.

With some help from GDOT, the Enhancement Authority and Pleasant Hill Neighborhood Improvement Group took seven abandoned homes, relocated and fully restored them.

“When you see these houses they are amazing with what we did of just being steadfast and faithful to the goals of Pleasant Hill, you get products like this which are fantastic. There are four other houses that’ll be done next week and the last one will be done the following week,” Beverly told 41NBC.

They used local labor to get it all done.

“We had to have community participation in the mitigation plan and we fought hard for that,” Givens explained.

Each home features completely redone floors, new state of the art appliances and all new interior work.

“Some of these houses are 100 years old. You know you’re dealing with a 100-year-old house and trying to restore that and I had seven of them? Yeah, it’s not an easy thing,” Beverly said.

It’s not the Pleasant Hill Peter Givens says he remembers but it’s getting there.

“I was born on the next street over–4th Avenue. I’ve said so many things for so long. I think people know what I stand for, they know what we tried to do in Pleasant Hill and now you can see it and there’s more to come,” he said.

Several of the newly finished homes had their final inspection from GDOT. No word yet on the results of that inspection.

Beverly says one of the homes has already attracted some interested buyers from Atlanta. They’re expecting to close on the home sometime next month.

The Pleasant Hill Mitigation Plan continues from here with building 17 more houses from the ground up.