Development in Beall’s Hill The neighborhood of Beall‟s Hill has a long history of bringing people together. One of the first areas in the city to integrate, it remains a vibrant mixed income district. Young families new to the city live next door to couples who have owned their home for fifty years. This diversity has created many competing visions for the neighborhood‟s development over the years, with a mix of actors driving changes in both residential and public space. Large scale revitalization work began in earnest in 1998, when the city partnered with Mercer University and the Macon Housing Authority to rebuild the Oglethorpe Homes public housing development through a HOPE VI grant, awarded in 2001. The Beall‟s Hill Redevelopment Corporation directed restoration efforts until 2007, when the organization came under investigation for its obfuscated financial management practices. While no misconduct was uncovered, the investigation motivated Mercer University and the city government to redefine the nature of their partnership under a new coalition called Historic Hills and Heights. Keenly aware of the potential pitfalls of urban development, the new group decided that preserving the cultural character of the area should be its first priority. As such, the coalition invited Historic Macon to extend their residential revitalization work to the neighborhood. The shift launched a new phase in Beall‟s Hill‟s development. Mercer University expanded its down payment assistance program for faculty to purchase homes in the area while simultaneously forming the College Hill Corridor Commission, a grassroots neighborhood revitalization effort which would go on to make significant investments in Beall‟s Hill and the surrounding area. After receiving grant funding from the Knight Foundation, the professionally staffed College Hill Alliance took over the placemaking and strategic vision of Beall‟s Hill in 2010, leaving Historic Macon to focus on property developments. To date, HMF has acquired and invested in 38 properties in the neighborhood, for a total of $5,906,307 in residential improvements. Financing for these projects has come primarily from the organization‟s revolving loan fund, which was supplemented in 2014 with a $3 million grant from the Knight Foundation. Historic Macon‟s continued investments in the housing stock of the neighborhood, combined with a $2 million infrastructure improvements plan recently announced by the city government, makes the economic outlook of Beall‟s Hill highly promising. The most critical component of the neighborhood‟s future, however, is the preservation of long-term residents and the social capital they invest in the area. Fortunately, the unique nature of the public-civic partnership directing Beall‟s Hill‟s LandLink Analytic Services
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Historic Housing Rehabilitation