Chicken Salad Chick is coming to Macon, plus more new businesses opening in Bibb County

Plans for a proposed daiquiri bar here were nixed while proposals for a funeral home and new restaurant were given the green light Wednesday at a regular meeting of the Macon-Bibb County Planning & Zoning board.

Elyse Coats rented what used to be a credit union at Hillcrest and Pio Nono avenues, across from Papa’s Wing & Seafood, with the intention to open a daiquiri bar.

The proposed bar and lounge, which would have been called The Cherry Lick, was denied as board members expressed concerns about students from Miller Middle School and Central High School having to pass by it daily, Coats told The Telegraph.

Another concern was that “it’s not placed with the rest of the bars,” she said. “NewTown Macon reached out to me about pulling the idea downtown instead.”

Coats said she will have to figure out what else to do with the building since she already signed a lease.

The next hearing is set for June 10 at 1:30 p.m. after the administrative meeting at noon. A Waffle House proposed at the site of an old fire station on Forsyth Road and a Circle K gas station on Hartley Bridge Road are among items to be considered.

Here are some businesses to look out for:

Chicken Salad Chick, 1676 Bass Road

Chicken Salad Chick will be the first eatery in a new 6,000 square-foot multi-restaurant building planned across the street from a new shopping center being developed on Bass Road.

The Alabama-based franchise boasts more than 100 restaurants in 10 states. The first location in Middle Georgia opened on Watson Boulevard in Warner Robins in 2016. Rod McLeod is the franchisee of that store and the one planned on Bass Pro Boulevard, between McDonald’s and Zaxby’s. The company claims it is the “only fast-casual chicken salad restaurant franchise in the country.”

The Macon-Bibb County Planning & Zoning board approved plans for the proposed restaurant at a regular meeting Wednesday.

Hart’s Mortuary, 6125 Houston Road

A funeral home that opened in Macon 120 years ago plans to open its fourth location in south Bibb County.

Hart’s Mortuary, which opened in 1899, received approval from the planning and zoning board to open a funeral home a 6125 Houston Road where a single-family home and barn are located.

The 3-acre property lies between the soon-to-close Fred’s discount store and ACE Hardware. The rezoning was approved by the planning and zoning board Wednesday.

The 1,200 square-foot barn will be converted into a chapel and the house, about 2,880 square feet, will be transformed into a funeral home. The home, barn and land, owned by Shelvia Neal, are valued at a total of $181,850, according to the tax assessor’s website.

Hart’s Mortuary opened its first branch location in August 2008 at 6324 Peake Road, formerly the Cupola, the headquarters of the Home Builders’ Association of Middle Georgia. Its second branch on Pecan Lane in Gray opened January 2015. The original Hart’s Mortuary is located at 765 Cherry Street.

Day care, 1080 Second Street

A new day care is planned downtown in a building that has been vacant for more than a decade.

Former Macon-Bibb County Commissioner Gary Bechtel, on behalf of employer Bob Lewis & Associates Inc., applied to open the day care at Second and Hawthorne streets between the Bibb County jail and the Thomas Jackson Juvenile Justice Center.

The single-story 8,300 square-foot building is owned by the Macon-Bibb County Urban Development Authority. The Macon Baptist Association sold it to Bibb County in 2009 for about a half-million dollars, according to the county tax assessor’s records.

The proposed day care center would accommodate 117 children as young as 6 weeks and as old as 5, according to the application. Four part-time employees and 16 full-time employees will be hired.

Proposed building renovations would include the construction of a dozen classrooms, a kitchen, a laundry room and a 1,500 square foot indoor playground area. The acre lot would be enclosed with “decorative metal fencing” and electric gates. Proposed hours are 6:30 a.m.- 8:30 p.m.

If all the requested variances are granted at the June 10 hearing, the day care could open in autumn, according to the application.

The site was chosen because of its strategic location to downtown employers, Mercer University and the Medical Center, Navicent Health, according to the application. Other day care facilities downtown include the Childcare Network on Pine Street and the Children’s Center at Mulberry United Methodist Church.

The application did not list a name for the company that plans to operate the day care.

This story was originally published May 29, 2019 at 3:09 PM.