wks2003x

Update: The hotel project is back on track. The city will begin accepting bids for the hotel development on Friday (which will be privately funded, thank goodness). The hotel will cost around $35 million and the city expects construction on the hotel to be complete by 2008.

Suburbia strikes again. I see that Evans is still rolling forward with plans for world domination. Nonetheless, a consolidated Evans-Columbia County shouldn't do much more than boost the already high morale for Columbia County. Who knows? Maybe if it keeps on growing at this rate it'll become sort of Augusta's second city...kind of like how Sandy Springs is to Atlanta. Interesting developments here.

For starters, the city could try annexing parts of Bibb County to gain a little more tax money. You wouldn't believe how small Macon's city limits are compared to the size of its urbanized area. I do think that a hotel is a step in the right direction, just not right now. socaguy: I suppose all of Georgia's second-tier cities face similar problems. In Georgia, everyone except Atlanta waits, lol.

Of course not, but you have to look at the economic situation that Macon is in a little closer. The city's going broke and we're all aware of it. I found it odd that at first, the city considered selling the convention center to a private company so that they wouldn't have to pay the high costs to manage it. Then, the city suddenly decided that they will not only keep the convention center, but they will build a new hotel to go with it. Doesn't seem like the sort of thing that a city with dwindling coffers would do.

The telegraph last reported that the Atlanta developer pulled out of the project (the macon developers are still working on it) because of a clash of ideas. The Macon developers are in the midst of hiring new partners to finish the project. Nothing ever takes off in Mactown without controversy. There's still the issue that the city is going broke but they're steady wasting money on downtown beautification projects, renovations, etc. Gotta love Mayor Ellis.

I don't know if it's been posted here already or not, but Macon will be building a new downtown hotel soon. The hotel will be comparable in size (and number of rooms) to the current Crowne Plaza Hotel across the river. The hotel is planned to be an addition to the Macon Centreplex/Coliseum Complex. According to the city, Macon's convention center currently doesn't have an attached hotel and a new hotel will make it easier for convention guests to stay at the Centreplex. It's also a tactic to attract more visitors and a way to make the city more money. The hotel will actually be built across the street from the Centreplex and the two buildings will be linked via a pedestrian bridge that crosses Coliseum Dr. It will be interesting to see just how large the new hotel will be and how it will impact the skyline. After the completion of the gateway office building and the announcement of the new hotel, it's nice to see that downtown construction is picking up steam again...it'll be nice to see a more dense city center. Now if only DOT can save I-16's horrendous traffic problems so that visitors can actually GET to the new hotel...

For the record, Macon's going nuts with highway projects. A spaghetti-junction like interchange is on the way for the I-75/I-16 interchange. The I-475/I-75 (south-end) interchange is going to face reworking. Planners are considering changing it to a complete interchange (allowing you to go from 475 south to 75 north and from 75 south to 475 north). There's also plans for a Jones County Connector. I-75 in south Macon will probably be widened again (and it's already 6 lanes wide). Anybody else think DOT is getting a little highway happy in Mactown?