At its final meeting of 2025, Macon-Bibb County commissioners allocated nearly $30 million in 2025 SPLOST bonds, advanced plans for Pleasant Hill affordable housing, the jail expansion, courthouse renovations and the new arena project that could lead to the Urban Development Authority purchasing the Marriott City Center hotel for $13 million.
In a special called meeting an hour before commissioners met Tuesday, the UDA held a brief executive session before agreeing to a purchase option agreement on the hotel at 240 Coliseum Drive.
Although UDA owns the land in the whole Coliseum complex, the hotel belongs to LCOF Macon Investment, a Massachusetts-based subsidiary of Linchris hotel management corporation.
Under a 2007 contract, LCOF has rights to lease that hotel and the adjoining Wilson Convention Center until 2042.
UDA Executive Director Alex Morrison said LCOF needed to “make a move or refinance,” so authority attorney Blake Shelton drafted a document that gives UDA a six-month option to purchase the hotel and acquire the leasing rights on both properties.
The UDA could then find a new buyer for the hotel, which Mayor Lester Miller said recently appraised for $23 million and would cost up to $60 million to build today.
“The Urban Development Authority will have the ability to take over those leasehold interests and either seek a new buyer for the hotel and seek a new manager for the convention center, or to simply take it over and operate it ourselves,” Morrison said after the meeting.
A new owner could negotiate with Marriott to keep the brand or seek another.
With plans for a new sports and entertainment arena on the other side of the Coliseum parking lot, Macon-Bibb County wants the ability to control who leases the hotel and convention center.
“We will have coordination amongst ourselves, and we’ll be able to move people into the right places for all of this,” Morrison said. “If anything, this makes the arena project more impactful, if we have a successful signing of this option.”
With the county’s development plans for East Bank across Coliseum Drive and the Emery Highway property that could potentially become a Veterans Administration Medical Center, Morrison said it is to the county’s advantage to acquire the hotel and leasing rights.
“Us having the ability to exercise site control is of utmost value for our community and it will allow us the flexibility to make the decisions to maximize that asset for our community,” Morrison said.
In the county commission meeting that followed, commissioners appropriated $5.7 million in 2025 SPLOST bonds to fund the arena architect, PBK Design and Planning, and MFA Program Management, the construction manager of the project.
For the remainder of the nearly $30 million in bonds, $10 million is earmarked for the UDA and Macon-Bibb County Industrial Authority, $7 million for recreation and $6.7 million for the expansion of the Bibb County Law Enforcement Center.
Commissioners approved Warren Associates as the jail construction manager at risk for the jail although without the support of Donice Bryant and Stanley Stewart.
Bryant, who retired from the sheriff’s office and worked in the jail, noted that Warren Associates worked to better secure cell doors after inmates were jamming locks and getting out of their cells, but the fix didn’t last and they still had issues with the 45-year old facility.
Mayor Lester Miller said inmates can be very creative and have a “unique way of damaging items and no matter technology you put in there, no matter what new lock you put in there, they’re going to find a way to damage those,” but that this project builds a new wing with prefabricated cells and new technology.
Stewart said Warren Associates’ President and CEO Warren Selby Jr.’s role as chairman of the CrimeStoppers board could be perceived as a conflict of interest, although the county attorney assured that it was not.
Selby’s company also will manage construction of Bibb County Courthouse renovations, the final major project from the 2018 SPLOST.
Commissioners approved $7,500 for pre-construction work and 2.45% of the total project costs for Warren Associates, and 6% of the total cost for BTBB architects, plus $12,000 for digital mapping of the building.
The county also approved hiring Stafford Builders for $202,075 to create a multi-purpose room at the Juvenile Justice Center from the 2018 SPLOST.
Commissioners agreed to $1.4 million in federal Community Development Block Grant and Home funds to bridge financing for Pleasant Hill Landing, the 64-unit affordable housing complex to be built at 151 Madison St. through In-Fill Housing, a subsidiary of the Macon Housing Authority.
From American Rescue Plan Act funds, commissioners earmarked $202,000 for Family Advancement Ministries and $150,000 for the Economic Opportunity Council to use for homeless prevention services.
Funds from the 2025 SPLOST also will pay nearly $83,000 for Hodges, Harbin, Newberry and Tribble engineers to design sidewalk improvements on Third Street between Walnut and Plum streets.
Commissioners also shifted nearly $140,000 from the general fund to cover increased costs for Cranston Engineering Group’s work on the Ocmulgee Heritage Trail.
At Carolyn Crayton Park from 2018 SPLOST revenue, commissioners approved nearly $666,000 for Stafford Builders to repair softball fields and about $295,000 to purchase and install new lighting.
Commissioners also accepted grant funds of more than $40,000 from the Law Enforcement Foundation to pay for equipment for patrol deputies, $87,000 from the Judicial Council of Georgia’s American Rescue Plan Act funds to pay salaries for senior judges, and $211,000 from the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety for a pedestrian safety and awareness campaign.
From public safety funds, the county approved $50,000 for audible pedestrian crossing signals that were endorsed by the Pedestrian Safety Review Board.
End of the year accounting required transferring $62 million in purchase orders from Fiscal Year 2025 that won’t be finalized until FY ‘26. The county also adjusted the FY ‘25 budget to reflect $242,375,011 in total revenue and expenditures from the general fund.
Here are highlights from the agenda captured in social media posts during the meetings.
— 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.
