WARNER ROBINS, Ga. — Cars pass by what is now Perkins Field, but the site may soon become an affordable housing and retail project. Down the street, Ken McCall, who owns McCall's Sandwiches, likes the idea.
“I've been here for 30 years, I've known about the park my whole life. It is a good plan with multi-use of retail and loft apartments, townhouses, whatever they decide to call them,” he said.
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Now, the two baseball fields here at Perkins Field could become a three-building, three-story apartment complex, which McCall doesn't have a problem with. It's the city leaders' decision for it to be lower income housing that draws some concern. “I'm not for initially starting it out as a lower-income or affordable housing. If you want your retail to come in and your restaurants to thrive, go ahead and target a higher income,” McCall said.
Eddie Watts, who's lived in Warner Robins for the last five years, gives tennis lessons at the park. “Young people who have the desire to learn the game and some of my friends, I help them as well,” he said.
But he's got a different take on the project than McCall's. “I do look at it as what entity does it benefit the most? We got different people who've got different economic levels and we need to think of them as well,” Watts said. Neither one is too bothered with losing the recreation space.
“We can always find a place to put other parks and museums and those types of thing, but we need to look at the people who are not as fortunate as others,” Watts said.
“They have a plan to relocate the rec center and those fields, so we're not really losing anything from the rec side, they'll just be relocated,” McCall said.
City leaders will address any questions, comments or concerns about the project in City Hall's council chambers on Thursday at 5:30 p.m.