Macon development making headway

The Tindall Heights neighborhood makeover has taken another significant step, although some legwork remains for housing officials working on the multimillion dollar project.

The state Department of Community Affairs has awarded tax credits for the second phase of the west Macon project that will involve building 64 modern apartments as part of the new Tindall Fields development. While efforts continue toward finding investors for that phase, the beginning of construction is nearing for another neighborhood project — Tindall Senior Towers.

In recent months, a section of Tindall Heights apartments has been torn down to make way for the senior towers with construction expected to begin early next year. The entire Tindall neighborhood is now vacant and surrounded by a fence while demolitions continue.

But housing officials say former residents interested in moving back into the neighborhood will be welcome as the phases are completed. The latest low-income tax credits are critical to ensuring redevelopment takes place, Macon-Bibb County Housing Authority CEO June Parker said.

“I don’t know any other word but thankful that we were successful because of the impact it's going to have on the neighborhood and residents,” she said.

The awarding of $667,000 in low-income tax credits annually over 10 years allows housing officials to attract investors. Early estimations are that the second phase will cost about $10.6 million.

“The tax credits usually fund 80 to 90 percent of the deal,” said Anthony Hayes, president of In-Fill Housing, the nonprofit arm of the Housing Authority “The whole purpose of the tax credit is to create a public and private partnership. Instead of having debt, you have equity to finance the project and it keeps rent affordable.”

Hayes said he is hopeful that deals with investors will be finalized in summer 2017 and construction on the second phase can begin in the fall. Once the apartments are finished, efforts will continue for years to ensure the property is properly maintained and renters meet income guidelines.

“Our commitment is to lease out the property, keep it in compliance up to a 15 year period,” Hayes said.

The first section of Tindall Fields will be eight two-story flats with one, two and three bedroom apartments. They will have amenities such as centralized heating and air conditioning systems, and there will be handicapped accessible units, both features not offered when Tindall Heights was built.

“This is better housing, more up-to-date, more amenities so it’s a better quality of home for our families,” Parker said.

Housing officials will apply over the next couple years for tax credits that could be used to help complete the final two phases of Tindall Fields — an additional 130 units of multifamily housing. Once completed, the new $45 million Tindall development will reduce density from 412 to 270 units.

After opening in 1940 as a segregated public housing development for black families, over the decades Tindall Heights housing became obsolete. Renaming the area Tindall Fields is in reference to what the neighborhood was known as prior to the opening of Tindall Heights in the 1940s, Parker said.

There’s also a plan for 8.5-acres of commercial development near Tindall Fields. The neighborhood is located near the south end of Mercer University’s campus, including Mercer Landing and by the Second Street corridor.

“The commercial strip will provide job and shopping opportunities for people that live in the (neighborhood),” Macon-Bibb County Mayor Robert Reichert said. “It’ll help to show off Little Richard Penniman Boulevard and the Second Street Connector. From the time you leave 1-75, it’ll all be an attractive, great gateway into south downtown Macon.”

This story was originally published November 18, 2016 at 1:19 PM with the headline "Macon development making headway."