Village Green homes razed for revitalization efforts

The Village Green neighborhood has been overrun with dilapidated properties in recent years.

On Wednesday, an effort to revitalize the south Macon subdivision, built in the 1960s, continued with the demolition of five more houses.

In total, more than $300,000 of Macon-Bibb County Commissioner Scotty Shepherd's blight bond money is being spent to tear down 18 structures as part of the county's remediation efforts.

The latest batch of demolitions is taking place along Deeb Drive and Village Green Lane.

"The end goal is to go ahead and have developers come in, build new housing or either add onto lots with adjacent property owners," said Cass Hatcher, Macon-Bibb's blight consultant. "There are a number of options we could use, but hopefully bring somebody to come in and do some reinvestment in the Village Green neighborhood."

The neighborhood, built in the 1960s, has been one of Macon's most distressed communities. Volunteer efforts, including work on a community garden and neighborhood trash pickups, have yielded progress. The anti-blight efforts will help the momentum.

The nine Macon-Bibb commissioners were each given $1 million in blight bond funds to spend on blight remediation across the county.

Stanley Dunlap, 478-744-4623

This story was originally published December 13, 2017 at 2:56 PM with the headline "Village Green homes razed for revitalization efforts."