MACON, Ga. — The old Macon Health Club in downtown will get a new future after it closed its door in 2017, Macon-Bibb County announced this morning.
"When I was a little wee lawyer at Mercer Law School, I used to enjoy — believe it or not — working out at the gym," Macon-Bibb County Mayor Lester Miller said. "And I was a little disappointed a few years after that when we had to shut down the health club."
Now, the county and various partners are getting together to bring back the health club at the corner of First and Cherry Streets along with bringing new businesses to other downtown properties.
"People have been talking a long time ago — we need to get the health club back in downtown Macon," Miller said. "We're going to make sure the health club returns to downtown Macon, and everyone can enjoy and have the opportunity to use."
In the news conference, Miller says that the sprawling project will include some properties behind and across the street from the old health club. They're planning on repurposing the buildings to bring a new hotel, offer new housing and even possibly a new restaurant space.
Alex Morrison with the Macon-Bibb Urban Development Authority says they'll be taking the reins. They're the new owners of the Macon Health Club and the 691 Cherry Street building.
He says he's heard a lot about the future of the health club during his time at the development authority.
"The question always comes up: What's going to happen to the health club?" Morrison said. "It is a significant property that has a ton of memories — core memories — for generations of Maconites."
The building right across the street from the health club, 691 Cherry Street building, was previously owned by the Macon-Bibb County Hospital Authority.
"These three authorities realized we all had a property that probably should be in another authority's hands," Morrison said. "This has been a very long time coming with multiple administrations and multiple agencies working together to bring this reality to us."
Because of that, acquiring these properties will likely cost county taxpayers nothing since it was essentially shifting properties among these authorities.
In this new push, NewTown Macon, the Urban Development Authority, the Macon Industrial Authority, Visit Macon and other partners are going to work together with developers to get these buildings "back to productive use," Morrison said.
Because of that, they don't necessarily know what future will come for many of these properties, but Morrison said that they will be focused on the purposes that Miller outlined, including housing, entertainment and health.
The mayor hopes it will attract more people to downtown and, with it, more businesses and opportunities.
"If we can continue to get that foot traffic," Miller said, "we're going to continue to move things forward."
They also said the project could include shops and a museum.