A bevy of burgeoning architects gathered on a vacant lot along Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. last week as Macon-Bibb County Commissioner Paul Bronson issued a challenge.
“If you can go to a city and find an MLK or a Malcolm X street that looks great, call me. You’re shaking your head no, right? Can’t find it,” said Bronson as he laid out his vision for the MLK Small and Minority-Owned Business District, or MLK SMBD, that stretches from Edgewood Avenue to Oglethorpe Street.
“We have a great opportunity here, guys, to really start the trend of developing MLK boulevards,” he told students from Kennesaw State University’s Urban Design Studio who will spend the semester designing plans for new multi-use developments between Hazel and Ash streets.
The block is adjacent to Greenwood Bottom, a Black business district that developed in the mid-1900s to mirror the Greenwood neighborhood’s Black Wall Street of Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Just as Tulsa’s district is re-emerging after the 1921 Race Massacre, Macon’s leaders want to revitalize Greenwood Bottom and reconnect the district to the thriving downtown.
While it will be years before the students’ dreams could become reality, by the middle of September, the Keep Macon-Beautiful Commission will unveil a new mural in the 1400 block of the MLK SMBD corridor.
Through a $20,000 MLK Community Improvement Grant from Keep America Beautiful, KMBB commissioned muralist Kevin “Scene” Lewis to commemorate King’s speech at Macon’s New Zion Missionary Baptist Church at 310 Edgewood Ave. on March 23, 1968, just a dozen days before King was assassinated in Memphis.
Two years ago, Lewis painted a recently vandalized and restored tribute to the late Congressman John Lewis on Commercial Circle in Warner Robins, and he expects King’s likeness to become a real landmark.
“John Lewis has been a very impactful mural I’ve done in Warner Robins, and I think this will be 12 times as impactful,” Lewis told a committee assembled at KMBB’s office Monday afternoon.
Brandon and Nadiyah Harris offered their building at 1410 MLK Jr. Blvd. for Lewis’ latest mural.
The Harris family’s barbershop dates back 60 years in the Greenwood Bottom Black business district that local leaders seek to revitalize.
“Greenwood Bottom, that aura. That’s a very special place. I’m most excited about that,” Brandon Harris said. “We’re just a small piece of the puzzle.”
In May of 2023, KMBB used a similar Keep America Beautiful $10,000 grant to plant trees along MLK Jr. Blvd.
“We want to also make sure that we continue to be equitable when it comes to our tree canopy, as well,” KMBB Executive Director Asha Ellen told the Kennesaw students during their walking tour of the Greenwood Bottom area.
Bringing new life to Greenwood Bottom
The 19 students who are in their fifth year of Kennesaw’s architecture degree program traveled to Macon through a grant from the American Institute of Architecture, or AIA.
At the institute’s national convention in San Francisco last year, KSU assistant professor of architecture Robin Puttock met Macon architect Will Stanford, who was looking for an architecture school to come up with ideas and designs for Macon’s urban core.
“Commissioner Bronson has done a tremendous job of envisioning this and laying the groundwork, but the idea that now he gets all these different, excited students that will generate ideas and study it in a more in-depth manner, I think, is definitely the next step in the process,” Stanford said.
Over the next three months, the students will put fresh eyes on the quest to better connect the old Black business district to downtown.
“Greenwood Bottom, which is not far from here, feels so disconnected,” Bike Walk Macon’s Rachel Umana told the students who were huddled on the empty lot at the corner of MLK Jr. Boulevard and Hazel Street. “It’s so close to downtown, but it doesn’t feel like it’s part of downtown because you just don’t think to walk there or bike there.”
A few years ago through a Community Foundation of Central Georgia grant, Bronson, an ex-officio member of KMBB, enlisted fellow KMBB board member and landscape architect Laurie Fickling to begin envisioning a park between Edgewood and Elm streets. Fickling also Sketched a mixed-use development between Ash and Hazel streets.
A 100,000-square-foot area in that block is what the architecture students will tackle over the next three months.
Bronson sees what he calls a “15-minute community” where residents have all they need within a 15-minute walk. They can live in affordable housing, work or own a business in the district and have childcare available through the new Economic Opportunity Council, which has a brand new facility in the neighborhood.
“We want to try to ensure that businesses, minority businesses, have the best opportunity to thrive and to be successful when they’re starting here in Macon, right? While at the same time… we want to bridge that gap between the downtown area and south Macon,” he said over the roar of log trucks chugging down MLK.
Overcoming traffic hazards and creating a safe space for pedestrians on the busy state highway is a tall order, but Umana believes the students’ vision could eventually lead to Macon-Bibb County’s goal of removing trucks from the boulevard.
“I think as we have more people living and more development down this way, it helps us advocate even more strongly for major improvements to the street, designing it better, helping remove that truck traffic. It is something that the county is working on,” Umana said.
KSU student Nafisa Azad watched the traffic go by as she took a break from the sun under the overhang at ABC Liquor store.
“With a lot of American development, it seems like it’s more vehicle-centered. So, for Macon to focus on the pedestrian level of entertainment, and their viewpoints and their experience walking across, is very interesting since most cities don’t prioritize that sort of engagement,” Azad said. “I guess people forget that the city is made with its citizens, not the other way around.”
Azad believes the project could give this sector traction to spur further economic development.
Ethan Joel, an architecture student from Trinidad who enjoyed the walkability of the heart of downtown, agrees this MLK district needs a boost that would bring more people in.
“A lot of the houses you see are a little bit older, a little bit more rundown and stuff like that,” Joel said. “So, it’s very much something that is needed and I’m excited to do it because it’s affordable housing and that is something that I’d like to do and see more of.”
The students are working in pairs and one group of three to produce nine designs by mid-November.
Soraya Ganga and Justin Monzon waited for the green light to take the crosswalk toward the old Roxy Theater in Greenwood Bottom.
“I think it’s going to be a big challenge because everything happens in downtown, and this area people have forgotten all about it,” Ganga said.
Monzon is inspired to help Macon grow and become an example for other cities.
“When we first came here, I didn’t really think Macon had a lot to offer, but as I was going through the site, learning about the culture, learning the music, learning pretty much everything about Macon, I got pretty excited about this project,” Monzon said.
Sofia Gomez was touched by the diversity of city planners’ goals like those expressed in the Macon Action Plan for future development. The community-driven map for progress is in its third iteration.
“This is a big community that’s very proud of the history and I really like how they focus on everyone, the art, the music, their people. And they’re very loving of their community, so I’m very excited to work with it,” Gomez said.
Thinking outside the box
Puttock will bring her students back in October for more feedback before presenting final designs in November.
“I want the students to be rooted in reality and see what actually can happen like in five years, what’s going to happen that they contribute. Otherwise, if it’s not a real world project, what’s the connection?” she asked.
Bronson hopes the students’ designs can springboard development with creative ideas.
“Think outside the box. Don’t be normal,” Bronson said. “I challenge you to think outside the box. That’s where the best stuff happens, okay?”
Puttock said the students who will be graduating next year are well suited to unleash creativity.
“They’re challenging the students to come up with outside-the-box thinking that sometimes only architecture students can do. Because sometimes in the profession of architecture, they have to pay attention strictly to codes and budgets, etc. But where do you find those good, outside-the-box thinking, those ideas?” she asked. “Sometimes in academia. So, we’re partnering with a real world project to come up with a bunch of different design options.”
— Civic Journalism Senior Fellow Liz Fabian covers Macon-Bibb County government entities for The Macon Newsroom and can be reached at [email protected] or 478-301-2976.
