Details emerge on $8.8 million plan to transform Alexander IV school for senior living

By the end of next year, senior citizens could move into a building where many learned their alphabet and multiplication tables.

Construction is set to being this spring on the former Alexander IV Elementary School on Ridge Avenue.

Dover Development Corp., which specializes in converting historic buildings into senior housing, submitted the winning proposal for the project to the Historic Macon Foundation fall.

The developer plans to build a new wing to complement the historic 1932 building that was the fourth school built in Macon by the Elam Alexander Trust.

The project will create 60 units for senior living and bring 30 new permanent jobs to the old school that closed in the late 1970s as part of Bibb County’s desegregation plan.

Those interested in learning more about the project are encouraged to come to a public meeting at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the building at 3769 Ridge Ave.

Historic Macon executive director Ethiel Garlington said the foundation is excited to introduce the community to the developers.

“The community has expressed interest in saving the historic school for some time and its inclusion in Macon’s Fading Five provided the momentum to match the school with an appropriate developer,” Garlington stated in a news release about the meeting.

The foundation also plans to host its annual patron’s party at the old school later this month.

Dover offered $225,000 for the building that the Bibb County school district sold to the Macon-Bibb County Land Bank Authority in March for $350,000. Macon-Bibb County Commissioner Mallory Jones used $350,000 of his $1 million in blight bond funds for the purchase but would likely receive money back from the sale.

Work is underway to convert two other former Bibb County school buildings into apartments.

A renovation of Henry A. Hunt Elementary School in east Macon began in March. In February, the former school at 900 Shurling Drive is expected to open as “Hunt School Village,” which will offer housing units for people 62 and older.

Across town on Montpelier Avenue, the old Miller school, which opened in 1932, is being converted into housing for people who work but earn low wages.

The former Pearl Stephens Elementary School on Napier Avenue, which was built three years before Alexander IV, opened as senior housing in 2008.

The school, built of stone tile with a stucco finish, fell into disrepair in the 1990s but was redeveloped by the Macon Housing Authority. The school now operates as a 61-unit housing facility called Pearl Stephens Village.

This story was originally published January 4, 2017 at 6:53 AM with the headline "Details emerge on $8.8 million plan to transform Alexander IV school for senior living."