MACON, Ga. — Have you heard rumors of a Costco coming to North Macon? Developers hope to build a new 415,000-square-foot shopping center that could include retail, fitness clubs, entertainment centers and a wholesale club. However, the exact club has not been confirmed.
The new places to shop would bring more people to Bass Road and Riverside Drive.
With a few weeks left until Christmas folks like Emily and Logan Mason are hitting up the Shoppes at River Crossing.
"We're looking for our little niece something for this year. She's still young, but we're looking for the drum set and things like that," Logan said.
The couple lives in Milledgeville, but come out to North Macon often.
"Once or twice a month if not to come eat, to shop things like that," Logan said.
They say Riverside Drive is busiest on the weekend.
"Traffic seems a little bit more than what it used to be," he said.
The Riverside Center could add to that. The design would look similar to the Shoppes at River Crossing, and bring more retail and eating options.
"Exciting!" Emily said.
"Yeah, exciting especially for her, she likes to come shop," Logan said.
That also means more cars on the road.
According to a traffic study done by Ridgeway Traffic Consulting, the shopping center could bring about 1,600 more cars to the road on a weekday evening, and about 2,000 more cars on a Saturday around noon.
"With more traffic means more customers and more people coming from further away. I think Macon is the closest place for us to shop, So we enjoy coming up here," Logan said.
However, people who live on the Bass Road side of the project aren't as excited.
"It does concern me, having to turn onto Bass Road with the traffic," Holly Shepley said.
Shepley says the area is heavily populated.
"With ACE, the school being right there, there are apartment complexes, lots of retail already on Bass Road and things being built up already," she said.
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She's excited for the new mall, and to have more options in Macon, but not the extra cars.
"I do think it would be hard for this area to contain that much traffic," she said.
The study recommends putting a roundabout at New Forsyth and Bass Road and adding a traffic light on New Forsyth Road by the entrance of the center.
"A traffic light may be helpful to help move the traffic, but I still think its a lot to put in one spot," Shepley said.
Developers say Riverside Center could come by 2025.
Planning and Zoning will meet on Monday to discuss the project.