Knight Foundation awards Historic Macon $3 million for Beall’s Hill revitalization

The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation announced Sunday at a board of trustees’ community dinner in Macon that it will award the Historic Macon Foundation $3 million in its continued revitalization efforts in the Beall’s Hill neighborhood.

Beverly Blake, Knight Foundation program director in Macon, said the money includes a grant and a loan. She said $1.785 million will be awarded as a grant to Historic Macon, while $1.215 million will be a program-related investment loan at a 1 percent interest rate, payable over five years.

The loan money will be used for several Historic Macon initiatives, she said, including $400,000 for an energy efficiency program and $250,000 for a façade improvement program. The rest of the money will go into rehabilitation and reconstruction of houses in the neighborhood, located adjacent to Mercer University and part of the College Hill Corridor.

“The loan part of the investment that Knight is making in the neighborhood will allow us to speed up the process of reinvesting in Macon’s neighborhood revitalization future,” Blake said, noting that it’s the first time the foundation has combined a grant and a loan in this manner.

Ethiel Garlington, executive director of Historic Macon, said the money will help the foundation’s revolving loan fund, which is used to attract new residents to the neighborhood. Historic Macon uses that money, as well as historic tax credits and tax freezes on rehabilitated properties in Beall’s Hill, as incentives for prospective homeowners.

“The organization has been doing this work (in Macon) for 50 years,” Garlington said. “This investment from the Knight Foundation affirms all the positive work that’s been done.”

Garlington said the energy-efficiency initiative is new. He said many of the rehabilitated older houses in Beall’s Hill need energy-efficiency upgrades, and Historic Macon’s program will match one already offered by Georgia Power, which will allow residents to double what they get in energy rebates.

Revitalization efforts in Beall’s Hill began in 2001 as a partnership among the city, Mercer and the Macon Housing Authority to rehabilitate one of Macon’s most prominent diverse neighborhoods. Historic Macon became fully involved in 2007, thanks to a $700,000 grant from the Knight Foundation.

Since then, Beall’s Hill has drawn national accolades not only for its revitalization efforts, but for keeping its housing affordable so that longtime residents can remain in the neighborhood.

Still, thanks to Historic Macon’s incentives as well as a down-payment assistance program from Mercer, Beall’s Hill has steadily attracted new residents as well. Blake noted that the average price of a house in Beall’s Hill is $135,000, and a rehabilitated home that qualifies for historic tax credits and a property tax freeze can be had for less than $700 a month.

As part of the announcement, Mercer will provide $400,000 to the Down Payment Assistance Fund for new homeowners in the area.

“Mercer’s partnership with Knight Foundation on the down payment assistance program has enabled the university to further its efforts at talent recruitment and retention, while also bringing back to life one of Macon’s first neighborhoods,” Mercer University President William D. Underwood said in a press release.

Aaron Zaritzky, president of the Beall’s Hill Neighborhood Association, said much of the rehabilitation effort in the neighborhood wouldn’t have been possible without the foundation’s investment.

“I will say that the Knight Foundation has been one of the great indispensable partners, without which improvement would have never been possible,” he said. “The neighborhood has infrastructure and building needs that can’t be sufficiently funded by government.”

Beall’s Hill covers 32 blocks, and the partners agree that only about one-third of the work has been completed. Blake and Garlington said that the new Knight investment should help speed the process along.

“What might have been a 10- or 15-year window might now be a five-year window to get everything done,” she said.

To contact writer Phillip Ramati, call 744-4334.

This story was originally published September 7, 2014 at 8:35 PM with the headline "Knight Foundation awards Historic Macon $3 million for Beall’s Hill revitalization ."