MACON, Ga. — The Macon Mall is going through a transformation as we speak.
The mall used to be the shopping hub for Central Georgia, but through the years, stores moved, the crowds shrunk, and it lost its draw.
We showed that the mall may not be too busy for the holidays, but soon, it'll be a hub for not only recreation and entertainment, but courts and elections, too!
The former shopping hub is building facilities that'll have a little something for everyone. 13WMAZ’s Jessica Cha joined city leaders on a tour of the changes.
There’s an amphitheater, an indoor pickleball court, and the board of elections moving there. Don't forget the regional commission office and courtrooms are also coming to the Macon Mall. Bibb County leaders say that it's an investment for the whole community.
"Doesn't look like a lot of work has been done so far, but it has been done so far,” says Mayor Lester Miller, talking to the crowd of city leaders at the first stop of Macon Mall's revitalization tour, the 10,000-seat amphitheater.
"You're starting to see a lot of the foundation being poured, a lot of dirt being moved, underground materials have been moved for the last several months,” Miller explains.
Next on the tour, the 70,000 square foot indoor pickleball area, 32 courts that can easily be moved to host events. However, Miller says it's not just entertainment.
"So, we'll build two new courtrooms here and we can have any type of suit resolutions, domestic cases. We moved onto the Board of Elections site, which I know everyone is eager to do. This site more than triples, quadruples the space we had before,” Miller says.
The mall sits in Commissioner Al Tillman's district. He says his last job was at the mall in 1996.
"There's some great things happening in District 9 and on this Eisenhower corridor,” says Tillman.
"I was one of the last ones here and the big ticket items at Sears Roebuck's,” he says.
Tillman says he watched the decline of the mall over the years and hopes the renovations bring in more people, and opportunities.
"It's an opportunity for folks who live in the area to get a job, so I think it's going to impact them that they don't have to catch a bus on another side of town,” he says.
Tillman explains that he knows an amphitheater won't solve crime in the short-term, but in the long-term, "You're going to be able to have a nightlife and a day life all in one. Hopefully, developers and others will come and create more businesses in the area and we can grow,” Tillman says.
Mayor Miller says they're spending $44 million in bonds from the Urban Development Authority to start the amphitheater and renovations. He says that they expect construction to wrap up in fall of 2023.
They say there's a timelapse camera capturing the building of the amphitheater. You can watch at this website.