The next step in the Ocmulgee Mounds National Historical Park becoming Georgia’s first national park happens next week, and Macon-Bibb County wants to be ready when the expected influx of tourists materializes.
Wednesday, the “Ocmulgee Mounds National Park Redesignation Act,” U.S. House Resolution 9416, goes before the Subcommittee on Federal Lands of the House Committee on Natural Resources.
The resolution sponsored by Rep. Austin Scott, R-Ga, is the last agenda item for the meeting that begins at 10 a.m. in room 1324 of the Longworth House Office Building, and will be livestreamed from Washington, D.C.
“We’re excited to see the process move forward,” Macon-Bibb County Mayor Lester Miller said, shortly after leaving an executive session of the Macon-Bibb County Urban Development Authority.
Following the closed session, the UDA voted to purchase the Marriott City Center hotel at 240 Coliseum Drive for $13 million. Late last year, Miller said the hotel appraised for $23 million and would cost $60 million to build in today’s economy.
UDA Executive Director Alex Morrison said the pending purchase reflects the authority’s hope Congress will eventually approve the national park.
“Which is impacting pretty much every decision that we make, whether it’s the arena, the Marriott hotel improvements, to downtown access and walkability, the East Bank site, it’s everything,” Morrison said.
With the Miller administration investing up to $350 million in the new Macon Arena near the Marriott, the county wants more control of convention center management and the hotel, which has declined in recent years.
While the land under the Marriott and Macon Coliseum belongs to the UDA, the hotel’s original owner, Massachusetts-based subsidiary of Linchris hotel management, LCOF Macon Investment, currently has rights under a nearly 20-year-old contract to lease the hotel and the adjoining Wilson Convention Center until 2042.
To break that deal and give the county more control over how those businesses are run, UDA Attorney Blake Shelton drafted a document in December that gave the authority a six-month option to purchase the hotel, which the board approved Thursday morning.
As part of the pending purchase deal, the UDA will partner with Mainsail Lodging & Development out of Tampa to renovate and manage the hotel and the Wilson Convention Center, which is expected to be demolished if a new convention center is built across the river as Miller intends.
UDA would own the hotel and split profits 50-50 with the management company.
Morrison expects Mainsail to spend at least $8 million to bring the building back up to Marriott standards and has confidence its team will do a better job managing conventions, too.
Mainsail owns and runs Hotel 45, which was made possible through a UDA bond deal.
“We think it’s a good deal and good for the community,” Morrison said.
The purchase is expected to close in about three months, Morrison said.
Groundbreaking on the arena is planned later this summer with the 230,000-square-foot building expected to open in 2028.
— Peyton Anderson 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.
