Get a rare glimpse into the crumbling downtown Macon hotel that’s set to be demolished

A hotel along First Street slated for demolition welcomed its final visitors Thursday afternoon as Macon-Bibb County leaders and local press toured the crumbling structure.

Commonly known as the Old Ramada Hotel, it closed for good after years of financial trouble. The city acquired it earlier this year and marked it for demolition due to its poor condition and the enormous cost needed to rehab it.

The hotel has been a hindrance to development in the area, said Macon-Bibb County Mayor Lester Miller, and the county hopes destroying it will begin a new chapter of growth.

A troubled history

The Old Ramada Hotel was first constructed as the Macon Hilton Hotel in 1969. With 16 floors and more than 300 rooms, it was a hulking new building that dominated the Macon skyline.

A group of prominent Macon business people backed the new hotel and sold stock to about 200 other people to fund construction.

At the time, it seemed like Macon was on the upswing. Construction had just wrapped on Interstate 75, and local leaders hoped it would bring a new wave of visitors to the city. The hotel was a physical manifestation of that optimism, with it being the first new hotel built downtown since 1913.

However, the ill-fated hotel faced trouble from the beginning. During its construction, a drainage pipe ruptured and the construction superintendent suffered a heart attack, delaying the project.

By 1980, the hotel’s owner had gone bankrupt and the Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. bought it for $3.1 million. The company invested $5 million in an attempt to turn the hotel into a Holiday Inn, but within eight years it was sold again to South Carolina-based Zurich Corp.

Zurich Corp. financed the $5.8 million purchase through the Bank of Credit and Commerce International. Just a few months later, three men from Panama were arrested at the hotel on charges of drug trafficking and money laundering after undercover federal drug agents lured them into the city on the promise of a major drug deal.

It was just one of many scandals the Bank of Credit and Commerce International was involved in that were allegedly related to laundered drug money from Central America, according to prior media reports. The bank was also tied to the financing of former National Security Council staffer Oliver North’s arms deals with Iran, and helping former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein’s hide Iraqi oil profits, according to prior media reports.

In 1991, the Hilton Corp. cut ties with Zurich Corp., citing the company not making timely renovations. The building was renamed the Macon Downtown Hotel.

However, that year brought even more trouble when a guest was brutally raped, beaten and murdered by a hotel employee inside the building, according to prior media reports. Just six months later, in November, the hotel was renamed the Ramada Hotel and Conference Center in hopes of a fresh start.

Even then, the hotel cycled through several more owners, name changes and rebrands, all failing to generate success.

Bibb County acquires the Ramada Hotel

After the hotel’s most recent owner, Sangha Hospitality, went bankrupt, the hotel went up for auction in November 2023.

Macon-Bibb County bought it for $4.5 million out of its general fund, but will reimburse the money through SPLOST, funds raised through a local sales tax on select items. The transaction was finalized earlier this year.

Alex Morrison, director of planning and public spaces with Macon-Bibb County, said the city bought the hotel knowing it would be demolished. The county estimated it would take more than $100 million to repair, and Morrison said that the building lacks the necessary structures and amenities to be used as anything other than a hotel.

The hotel — its facade a checkerboard of shattered windows and cracked concrete walls — has hindered development along First and Walnut streets due to safety concerns and its unsightliness, Miller said.

“No one has built to the river because of this property standing here,” Miller said. “It is blighted, it is dangerous, it creates issues for the community.”

County officials jumped at the chance to acquire it, fearing it would’ve otherwise been caught in another ill-considered business deal and only decay more.

The demolition is slated to take place at 9 a.m. on Jan. 1. J.J. Martin, senior project manager with Target Contractors, said Target Contractors plans to implode the building. This involves using explosives to “kick out” the building’s supports, causing it to fall inward.

Imploding is a quicker and safer way to demolish buildings in crowded areas like downtown Macon, Martin said. It ensures surrounding buildings won’t be harmed, and minimizes the amount of dust and debris released into the air.

“It’s going to come straight down,” Martin said. “Gravity pretty much takes care of it.”

While the county hasn’t released concrete plans for what will replace the building, Morrison said the property will likely become a more modern hotel or convention space that will tie into other revitalization efforts along the Ocmulgee River and help connect downtown to other parts of the city.

The county especially hopes to use the property to bolster a project called “Renaissance on the River,” Morrison said, which is expected to bring a mixed-use development to the west bank of the Ocmulgee River, along Riverside Drive near New Street.

“This has been a landmark property that’s brought people from all over the world to Macon, Georgia, and we imagine it can be that again,” Morrison said. “This will help bring the gravity of downtown Macon back towards Walnut Street and the river.”

The county has not released a timeline for when it will unveil plans to replace the hotel or begin construction.

This story was originally published December 16, 2024 at 1:00 AM.