Signs soon will be going up on a historic downtown building for the new Flying Biscuit Cafe at 582 Mulberry St.
The Macon-Bibb County Planning & Zoning Commission accepted the Design Review Board’s recommendation to approve the illuminated, rectangular projection sign that will jut out from the corner of the building near Second Street, and a wall sign with logo for the front of the building that once housed Michael’s on Mulberry.
The installers have to make sure the bolts go through the mortar joints and not the bricks to protect the 1857 building, which was a condition of the approval.
Although current guidelines for the Central Business District do not allow projection signs to be illuminated from within, those guidelines are being rewritten and the board did not object.
The review board only mandated that the sign not exceed brightness standards for the district.
The “breakfast all day” chain of nearly three dozen restaurants opened its first location in 1993 in Atlanta’s Candler Park neighborhood.
No date for the grand opening has been announced, but the Greater Macon Chamber of Commerce initially expected the brunch spot to open later this month.
In Beall’s Hill, years after plans for a restaurant and a subsequent design for four apartments in the old Korner Kupboard fell through, so did the roof on the one-story addition to the circa 1889 building at the corner of Hazel Street.
Monday, P&Z approved the demolition of the red brick addition and plans for two apartments in the two-story building.
Since the revitalization of the neighborhood in 2005, historic preservationists have been looking for someone to save the old grocery store and thought they found the perfect project in 2020 when caterer Robert Fisher wanted to turn the two-story store into a neighborhood cafe with a catering kitchen in the addition. The project did not proceed after nearby churches objected to alcohol sales and Fisher could not secure permission to use Mount Olive Missionary Baptist Church’s parking lot.
In 2023, Historic Macon Foundation stepped in with a P&Z-approved plan to create four apartments, including two in the addition, but the foundation’s executive director, Nathan Lott, said the general contractor left the job.
“We couldn’t find anyone else brave enough to save that building,” Lott told the Design Review Board.
As the sole remaining member of the LLC that owns the building, Lott said he secured permission from the National Park Service to demolish the addition because the plans meet U.S. Department of Interior standards for historic rehabilitation as long as they take great care to not damage the historic building.
Other agenda items
- 2238 Pio Nono Ave. — A variance in building setback requirements approved to allow the Blue Moon Package Store to add on to the back and side of its building to allow for new coolers.
- 192 Stonewall Place — Certificate of appropriateness granted for removal of an existing deck and replacing it with a new covered deck that will require reconfiguring the roof. The owner also plans to add a 6-foot privacy fence and a new concrete driveway.
- 148 Holmes Ave. — P&Z approved a new wooden door to replace a metal door on the historic district home.
- 961, 953 Elm St. — The owner of this Beall’s Hill home will be allowed to add a wooden fence with two gates, as long as the sections facing Elm Street and Calhoun Street Lane do not exceed 4 feet in height and the finished side of the fence faces outward.
— Civic Journalism Senior Fellow Liz Fabian covers Macon-Bibb County government entities and can be contacted at [email protected] or 478-301-2976.
