Macon: Then and Now

A look at the past five years and what’s to come

By Katie Atkinson

The city of Macon is a bright and bustling city with great historical significance. Throughout its downtown streets, most anything can be found: pizza eateries, a bridal shop, an upscale barber joint, plenty of bars … and the list goes on.

Josh Rogers, CEO and President of NewTown Macon, said the city has seen some of its’ most noticeable changes in the past five years.

“Oh my gosh, I mean as far as downtown is concerned, it’s very hard to describe the scale and the pace of how things have changed in the past five years,” he said. “It has been monumental.”

Rogers credits much of that change to NewTown, a development non-profit that was founded in 1996. By the organization’s online records, which were last updated in March of 2016, Newtown Macon has exceeded nearly all of their development expectations over the last five years.

They started their current strategic plan in 2012 with a promise to “deliver measurable progress for downtown revitalization,” according to newtownmacon.com.

Rogers said that this message for downtown refers to the central business district, as designated by Macon-Bibb planning and zoning. This includes Mulberry, Cherry, and Poplar Streets as well as Cotton Avenue, Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. and First, Second, and Third Streets.

NewTown has primarily focused on increasing housing and storefront occupancy levels.

One initial goal was to increase the number of housing by 125 units. They have surpassed these expectations and are planning to have 200 more units by 2017.

The group also wanted to maintain 85 percent housing occupancy. Their website lists that they have helped achieve 90 percent housing occupancy.

“That’s a tremendous change,” Rogers said. “It’s something you can see and feel on every block.”

A final update will be revealed when their annual report of progress is released in October 2017.

According to their site, NewTown planned to increase storefront occupancy by 25 percent by 2017. As of March 2016, the level of storefront occupancy sat at a 17 percent increase, with high hopes of meeting expectations by 2017. Rogers is optimistic about the progress Macon has seen.

“By every conceivable metric, downtown has improved a tremendous amount in the past five years,” Rogers said.

Lauren Lin, director of communications at Macon’s Art Alliance, has been a Macon resident long enough to see these changes transpire. She graduated from Mercer University in 2010.

“Ever since I started to work for the alliance, the renaissance era of Macon and everything that has been going on is pretty remarkable…especially getting to work for a downtown based organization,” Lin said. “It’s a pretty awesome thing just because you have such a tangible ability to see things and to have face time with the people who are integral in making those changes.”

She said that the Macon community, and especially the central business district, looks different now than it did when she was pursuing her degree.

“Personally, I think the big changes to Macon started with the recognition of Mercer and the changes on campus and with groups like the college hill alliance,” Lin said. “It really connected the community and downtown.”

After Lin finished her education at Mercer, she moved back to Florida for a few years. By the end of 2013, she had returned to Macon.

“When I graduated, a lot of revitalization efforts were just taking root,” Lin said. “Having left and the coming back to see [the progress] was a pretty awesome thing.”

Local business owner Eric Wakefield is not so optimistic about the changes he has seen as far as storefront occupancy goes. Wakefield is the owner of Golden Bough, a vintage bookstore that has been around since the 1980s.

“Not sure I’ve seen much business recruiting. Seems like we are closing more places than opening them,” Wakefield said. “A lot of businesses have closed and so many of the new businesses seem to be opening and closing pretty quickly.”

Still, he says that his business is attempting to contribute to the revival of Macon.

“I certainly hope that we have [contributed],” Wakefield said. “We try! We support any kind of artistic endeavor we can..music…writing…theatre…”

Wakefield has worked at the bookstore since the year 2000.

“I bought a business and started a family here, “ he said. “I enjoy living here.”

Rogers said he thinks that living in Macon is about to become a much greater experience.

“This sounds perhaps overly optimistic but I really think that the city is on the edge of exploding,” Rogers said.

For Rogers, the question about Macon has always seemed to be “how do we reach the city’s potential?” Now, Rogers says the question is about how good the city can get.

“And I think, we’re going to be incredible,” he said. “There are just a lot of pieces in place now that weren’t in place five years ago. That gives me a tremendous amount of hope. I am truly as hopeful as I have ever been about the next five years.”