Old Downtown Building Gets New Life

A non-profit group in Downtown Macon has taken recycling to a whole new level.

The building operated by a group known as “The 567” was once an old department store, but now it’s used as a church, business offices, and classrooms.

Executive Director of The 567, Melissa Macker says, “We’re looking to be very efficient with the money that we spend.”

The groups used old floors to create tables and a stage. Macker says, “We like the idea of preserving some of the history of this building.”

The once abandoned department store is now a multipurpose facility. “They’ve recycled an entire building,” says Laura Jackson, Program Coordinator with Keep Macon-Bibb Beautiful.

It’s a re-purposed place for members of New City Church to worship and also a place for entrepreneurs to launch their dreams.

Johnny Rohrbeck, rents a space at The 567, and says he appreciates The 567’s recycling efforts, ” As a new start up company being able to benefit from not having to go out and buy a bunch of furniture and having desks and chairs and things.”

The 567 collects used materials to keep costs down. For example the group uses old donated red chairs from the Dallas Convention Center.

Jackson says, “That means someone in Dallas didn’t get to throw them away, and we have these wonderful chairs here to be used.”

Macker adds, “It’s just really important to us to be good stewards of the resources of our environment as well as the resources that we have.”

They’re encouraging everyone to recycle on a larger scale. “Not just your bottles or cans, but recycling the carpet you cut up in your home when you rebuild things. If you’re remodeling re-purpose these things,” says Jackson.