New fire station and precinct to replace blighted homes

MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – The first phase of another round of blight projects has begun. This time, Macon-Bibb County is focusing on District 9, off of Napier Avenue.

Workers began to tear down two houses Monday morning on Mercer Street. A couple of houses on Grand Avenue and Napier Avenue will also be taken down.

Mercer Street resident, Carol Martin, is excited the abandoned homes are being demolished.

“To see that go down, it’ll be wonderful,” said Martin.

District 9 Commissioner, Al Tillman, is sure that by removing some houses along Napier Avenue, Grand Avenue and Mercer Street the neighborhood will become a better environment.

“When you live in the area, when you live in the neighborhood, when children walk to school, you don’t want them passing through an abandoned structure,” said Commissioner Tillman. “This is just great for this entire community.”

Martin says the houses no longer serve a purpose in the neighborhood.

“They were havens for hangouts for people to go in and stay and they’d throw the furniture out there and so it’s good to get those away from the hangouts,” said Martin.

Commissioner Tillman hopes the $160,000 blight project will encourage other commercial residents to touch up their buildings.

“Just like the North Napier Apartments management,” said Commissioner Tillman. “He’s decided, they’re going to spruce up their area as well. We want to continue this process all throughout Napier, district nine and throughout Macon-Bibb county.”

Meanwhile, Martin says she’ll enjoy the site of seeing the houses go down.

“It’s just fun to watch them demolish it and know what’s coming in it’s place.,” said Martin.

This current project will bring a new fire station and sheriff’s precinct to Napier avenue. The Macon-Bibb County Fire Station will replace the Breezy Hill station on Forsyth. The Bibb County Sheriff’s Office station will replace the one off Pio Nono.

Macon-Bibb County Fire Department’s, Chief Marvin Riggins, is excited for the new station since the one on Forsyth is not under the best condition. He’s also looking forward to working alongside the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office.

“We have a very good work relationship as far as public safety in Bibb County is concerned,” said Chief Riggins. “We’re excited to have the Sheriff’s office on site with us, because we’re both serving the same people.”

The $2.25 million dollar project is funded by the SPLOST. Groundbreaking is expected to be in about a month when blight demolition is finished. Construction will then take about a year to complete.