What some are calling Macon’s most successful project in recent years began as an idea in a Mercer University classroom.

Four students -- Alex Morrison, Matt Wetherington, Kimberly Humphries and Veronica McClendon -- were taking an undergraduate class called “The Fate of the City” and attempted to come up with solutions to create jobs and a sense of place for Macon.

Those were the humble beginnings of what is now the College Hill Alliance, which this month entered the final year of a three-year grant by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation to develop the area between Mercer and downtown Macon economically, culturally and environmentally.

“I think it’s been the best thing that’s ever happened in Macon,” Mercer President Bill Underwood said. “It’s an unqualified, tremendous success.”

First through volunteers and later through a partnership between the college and the city, the College Hill Alliance has spent its first two years attracting new business to the corridor area; revitalizing the neighborhood, including plans to improve Tattnall Square Park; and creating new events, such as the Second Sunday concert series, to improve quality of life.

Beverly Blake, program director for the Knight Foundation in Macon, said the College Hill Alliance has exceeded expectations.

“We knew the community had leadership, the desire and the vision to make it a better place,” she said. “It’s been a remarkable transformation of that part of the community. They are accomplishing what they set out to accomplish under the master plan.”

Origins

Morrison, who became executive director of the Macon-Bibb County Urban Development Authority in May, said he and his classmates realized the concept they developed would take more time than a typical class project, and they stuck with it for an extra semester.

“We were looking at what opportunities were in the downtown area for a way to improve (the city’s) economic vitality,” Morrison said. “We wanted to create a link between Mercer and downtown, and find a way to keep young professionals here in Macon. It wasn’t just a mental corridor, but a physical corridor between Mercer and downtown. ... We wanted to create something real in the community.”

Morrison said the students approached Mercer as well as NewTown Macon and then-Mayor Jack Ellis. Eventually the partnership of the College Hill Corridor Commission between the city and university was born.

From its inception, the commission took the approach of getting as much community involvement as possible, which included public sessions to help decide which design firm would be charged with creating the College Hill master plan. In turn, that firm -- Interface Studios of Philadelphia -- held several community sessions that allowed the public to contribute their ideas about what the master plan needed to cover.

Months later, in June 2009, the Knight Foundation awarded $5 million to the community -- $2 million to create the College Hill Alliance, and $3 million to the Community Foundation of Central Georgia to be awarded as grants for residents who come up with projects to improve the corridor area.

The alliance’s basic strategy has been to get a program up and running, then turn it over to a community partner to sustain the project in anticipation of the alliance’s grant ending in June 2012, said Pat Madison, executive director of the alliance.

“The day we opened, we hit the ground running,” Madison said. “Our first year was to implement the recommendations of the master plan. Right out of the gate, we enjoyed small victories and created energy and enthusiasm.”

Underwood pointed to the growth of the Second Sunday concert series -- a free outdoor music performance held monthly at Washington Park -- as a sign of the program’s success.

“I went to the first one, and there were about 75 people and the act showed up late,” Underwood recalled with a chuckle. “It was a nice Sunday event. Now, they get 700 to 800 out there, and it’s a tremendous success. It’s one of those programs that’s become self-sustaining.”

It’s a perfect example of the programs that have made the neighborhood a better and more lively place, Underwood said.

Successes

Those programs, which include bike races, a soap box derby and outdoor movie screenings, are hardly the only areas of success College Hill has enjoyed.

Probably the most significant success in terms of impact has been the partnership among the alliance, Historic Macon and the city with the Historic Hills & Heights program.

Historic Hills & Heights is a program that has revitalized the Beall’s Hill Neighborhood by rehabilitating or building new houses in that neighborhood while demolishing dilapidated housing. As a result, new residents have been drawn to the neighborhood while home values have risen and crime has plummeted.

“Look at Beall’s Hill 10 years ago and look at it now,” said Madison, who described the program as “an overwhelming success.” “The houses there that have been rehabbed have saved the city $90,000 in demolition costs alone. ... Most of the historic houses have been rehabbed and are under contract before they are even finished. The average time on the market has been six days.”

Madison credited Historic Macon and its executive director, Josh Rogers, for taking the program to another level despite the nation’s housing market being in a slump.

Underwood is even more glowing in his praise.

“The work College Hill is doing with Historic Macon is a stunning success, especially with the housing market we are in,” he said. “Every house that has been renovated has been sold at or above the asking price. Every single one. The hottest housing market in Georgia is Beall’s Hill.”

Despite the program’s success, members of Macon City Council have attempted to cut the city’s membership fee to the program. Last year, Madison, Rogers and others met with the council’s Appropriations Committee to restore $75,000 in funding. Madison said he and others will meet with the committee later this month to try to get about $67,500 restored to the fiscal 2012 budget for the program.

Madison said part of the issue is that some council members think too much of the city’s resources have been put into the College Hill Corridor area at the expense of other Macon neighborhoods.

“It makes it difficult to get the private sector to engage in the partnership,” he said. “The last time the city pulled out (in 2006), all development stopped. Some of the argument is ‘Why is the city spending money in Beall’s Hill and not my neighborhood?’ ... But every time we build a house, it puts 25 people to work.”

Mayor Robert Reichert said he supports what the alliance has done for the city overall and in Beall’s Hill in particular.

“They’ve made major improvements, including a plan to redevelop Tattnall Square Park,” Reichert said. “They were a partner in getting the (Georgia Department of Transportation) grant to redo College Street. They’ve helped the neighborhood in smaller ways, with community gardens and events like Second Sunday that have enhanced the quality of life here.”

Duplicating success?

Reichert has said several times that he hopes the revitalization of College Hill could be duplicated in other parts of Macon.

He noted that the “shalom zones” program the city has set up -- which empower neighborhood residents to improve their streets -- are an attempt to do just that, so that a neighborhood’s residents can come up with a list of needs and the city can find ways to help.

Blake agreed with the notion.

“With planning, it can happen in other neighborhoods,” she said. “The critical piece is about people coming together to improve the place they live. Everything else flows from that. It’s really an exciting time to live in Macon, Georgia.”

Madison noted that the College Hill Corridor area is in a unique position by having the resources of the university to lean on. He says the success, however, is built on the stakeholders in the area having a “unity of purpose.”

“We don’t have the luxury, in this economy, to go off in different directions,” he said.

Madison said the best way to duplicate the alliance’s efforts in other neighborhoods is to go one neighborhood at a time, working in concentric circles starting with adjacent neighborhoods.

Meanwhile, there is still plenty of work for the alliance to focus its efforts on, Madison said.

He noted that Phase II of the Lofts at Mercer Village is scheduled to break ground later this summer, and already, there is a waiting list of merchants hoping to get a spot in one of three retail spaces planned for the development. In addition, Madison wants a plan in place and work to start on the improvements for Tattnall Square Park.

The other important key is for the alliance to ensure the initiatives that have already begun have secure partnerships to continue once the grant ends.

Given the program’s success, Madison said the alliance may not go away when the grant ends in June. 2012. Already, the alliance has consulted with other communities looking to replicate College Hill’s success.

“We’re looking at College Hill 2.0,” he said. “We’re talking about it a little bit. We’re looking at it for the long-term on how to make this organization self-sustaining. ... We can play this kind of role, an economic development role.”

Whatever the future, Morrison said the entire concept has surpassed the expectations of the group that originally conceived it.

“There’s been such great community involvement,” he said. “It’s (beyond) our wildest dreams how successful it’s been.”

Information from Telegraph archives was used in this report. To contact writer Phillip Ramati, call 744-4334.