Grant’s Lounge wants help to transition to a historical living museum for southern rock

Owners of a popular, long-established nightclub on Poplar Street in downtown Macon are calling on the community for help in rebuilding after a deadly shooting nearby Friday.

Quinton Tylor Benyard, 28, of Eastman, was discovered lying next to the road at the corner of Poplar and Third streets about 1 a.m. by a Bibb County sheriff’s deputy. Benyard, who’d been shot, died about 2-1/2 hours later at the Medical Center, Navicent Health.

It was the second deadly shooting in downtown Macon this month and the 39th homicide in Bibb County this year.

“We would like to express our deepest condolences,” Cheryl Grant Louder of Grant’s Lounge said in an email released Friday and published in its entirety on both WMAZ and WGXA websites. “There is no way that we can express our sympathy for this tragic incident where a young man lost his life.”

Grant’s Lounge has been established in downtown Macon for more than four decades. The owners want to keep the popular nightclub alive by transitioning to a historical living museum for southern rock.

“We would like to issue a call for action to law enforcement, community leaders, business owners and any of our patrons to help us determine a new direction for Grant’s Lounge,” Louder said in the email.

To do this, the owners are hosting a meeting at 3:30 p.m. Dec. 30 at the office of the Urban Development Authority, the email said.

Reached by telephone Saturday, Louder said she plans to keep the venue as a nightclub with live acts and declined further comment until after the meeting.

This story was originally published December 22, 2018 at 6:40 PM.