NewTown Macon explains funding for downtown nightclub

When a Macon-Bibb County Commission committee agreed Tuesday to help NewTown Macon with revenue bond funding for a downtown business, a TV media report caused some confusion.

NewTown President/CEO Josh Rogers said he had been fielding numerous calls Wednesday about the misunderstanding. A public meeting has been scheduled to explain the program for the funding at 4 p.m. Thursday at NewTown offices at 555 Poplar St.

Rogers wrote in a statement posted on his group’s website that “13WMAZ inaccurately said that the County approved use of its money to provide the loan to the Downtown business, and we want to be very clear that at no time was taxpayer money allocated to this project nor to this Fund.” The station has since posted a correction on its website.

A commission committee approved an $800,000 loan to NewTown Macon for City Ventures LLC, which is the company that owns Crazy Bull, a nightclub at 473 Second St.

The 26,000-square-foot club was developed by Ricky Hill and Ricky Bennett, as reported by The Telegraph in May 2013. The century-old building had been used as a cotton warehouse, a furniture store and an office supply store. It sat vacant for about 15 years before Hill and Bennett bought the building.

Recently, Bennett wanted to dissolve the partnership, which meant the loan they had on the property had to be paid in full as of Friday. Hill wants to continue the operation, but in order to save the business he needed new funding and approached NewTown for help.

NewTown created its Real Estate Development Loan Fund in 2012, which consists of bond funds issued by the Macon-Bibb County Urban Development Authority and backed by the “full faith and credit of the Macon-Bibb government,” Rogers said. The fund provides loans to help develop the downtown area and businesses downtown. If a loan is more than 40 percent of the total project cost, NewTown must notify the commission, which is what happened Tuesday.

“Even if all we ended up with is the real estate, it will be more than sufficient to cover the outstanding debt,” Rogers said.

Even though court records show that Hill filed for bankruptcy in 2012, Rogers said he wasn’t concerned about him being able to repay the loan.

“We look holistically at every deal,” he said. “I mean if traditional lenders were able to do everything that benefited downtown Macon, we would have no role in lending. But we have tools and abilities that are available to us that are not available to traditional lenders.”

Also, NewTown has the additional motivation for downtown revitalization that enables it to do deals traditional lenders wouldn’t even consider, he said. If Hill retains the property, it means the business will continue to contribute to downtown and continue sales tax revenue to the county.

“In this case, ... we feel like we have appropriate mitigation for the additional risk factors,” such as the past bankruptcy. “In this case we really judged the merits of the current operating business and the value of the real estate against the potential cost.”

This story was originally published April 26, 2017 at 8:34 PM with the headline "NewTown Macon explains funding for downtown nightclub."