Macon-Bibb County government has announced a new affordable housing development in the heart of one of the city’s most prominent historically Black neighborhoods.

Pleasant Hill Landing will be built at the crown of the Pleasant Hill neighborhood, once a center of Macon’s Black middle and professional class.

But the neighborhood which also was the home to the first Black legislator to speak on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives has also been dealt a number of wounds over the years, such as bank disinvestment driven by federal redlining that began in the 1930s and by being cut in half by the original construction of Interstate 75.

Now, 64 apartments across three multi-story blocks are planned for Pleasant Hill Landing, financed through about $1.4 million in federal low-income housing tax credits awarded to the Macon Housing Authority. 

During the official announcement of the project, Macon-Bibb County Mayor Lester Miller said the housing crisis that has affected the country has touched his community, too. 

“Which is why we made it a priority to increase the amount of housing available for people in any income bracket because stable housing stabilizes our lives and the lives of those around us,” Miller said. 

Miller described apartments connected by bike lanes and sidewalks to the core of downtown at the site which was home to a number of different schools over the decades. 

“It is sacred ground for the Pleasant Hill Neighborhood Organization, where the historic institutions like Georgia Academy for the Negro Blind, Green Street School, Amelia Hutchins Library and Progressive Christian Academy, Macon Charter and more rendered aid — a noble education service for many generations, for decades,” said Erion Smith of the Pleasant Hill Neighborhood Organization. 

The effort continues what has become a trend at the Macon Housing Authority of landing the highly competitive low-income housing tax credits to lure in private investment for new development. This year, MHA was one of only 24 entities statewide to win a piece of the almost $31 million in LIHTC credits disbursed by the Georgia Department of Community Development.

LIHTC credits are attractive to businesses as one way to decrease their overall tax liability. Macon Housing Authority head Mike Austin said once investors buy up the credits, he expects them to net between $17 and $19 million to be used for building.

In his remarks, Erion Smith of the Pleasant Hill Neighborhood Organization, said for Pleasant Hill Landing to truly honor the neighborhood, apartments there must be truly affordable. 

Ashley Woodford grew up in and still lives in the neighborhood. She remembers going from house to house singing the Gospel hymns she learned at Progressive Christian Academy as a child. She agreed with Smith. 

“Because people can't pay $1,000, $900 rent,” Woodford said. "We need something that’s actually affordable in our neighborhood, that looks nice so people can be proud of it."

Mike Austin of the MHA said rents will be capped at a maximum of $600 a month at the property as a condition of the special financing that will be used to build it. The same is true of other recent MHA redevelopments.

“There's a land use restriction covenant that runs sometimes, usually 15 to 35 years,” Austin said. “If that property is sold during that time frame, the covenants rule and whoever buys it has to adhere to those covenants and keep those rents in those ranges.” 

Pleasant Hill resident Amanda White attended the L.H. Williams Elementary School, the neighborhood school where kids who one day live at Pleasant Hill Landing would likely attend. She’s worked there for 48 years, too. She said she’s looking forward to spending her retirement at the planned onsite gymnasium. 

“To come and invest some time, volunteer time in the community,” she said. “To help out.”

Let me be the first person to open the door to the Pleasant Hill Landing gym, White said. 

Construction at the site is expected to take about two years.

Tags: Macon  redevelopment  Georgia  Redlining  bibb county  housing