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MACON’S
BEALL’S HILL, SITE OF
FIRST KNIGHT PROGRAM CHARRETTE IN 2001,
WINNER OF 2005 CHARTER AWARD
FROM CONGRESS FOR THE NEW URBANISM
MAY 18, 2005
The Beall’s Hill neighborhood in Macon, Georgia, site of the Knight Program in
Community Building’s first charrette in November 2001, is a community building
success story, with significant revitalization and urban infill taking place and
major plans in place for future growth. In May 2005 Beall’s Hill received a 2005
Charter Award from the Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU).
Beall’s Hill is
a historic neighborhood near downtown Macon, located between Mercer University
and the Medical Center of Central Georgia. In 2001 the 100-acre site faced a
host of urban revitalization challenges. A great deal of housing had been lost
to demolition and fires. Obsolete public housing was sited on a “superblock” at
the heart of the neighborhood. The neighborhood lacked welcoming green space and
recreational facilities as well as retail and commercial services. Major
institutional uses encroached on former residential areas and threatened to wall
off the neighborhood. A railroad and poorly designed bridges isolated the
neighborhood from Tattnall Square Park and the elementary school.
However, Beall’s
Hill had the potential to be an attractive, diverse, convenient mixed-use urban
neighborhood surrounded by many amenities including a university, a medical
center, a neighborhood elementary school, a park and tennis center, revitalized
historic neighborhoods, and an active downtown.
The Knight
Program’s week-long charrette, or public design workshop, concluded with 60
design recommendations, the major theme being a call for infill and
rehabilitation of houses that respect and reflect the neighborhood’s historic
character. Subsequently, Macon City Council adopted a Consolidated Master Plan
based on work produced during the charrette.
The Knight
Program also contributed to Beall’s Hill’s redevelopment in with a 2002 market
study of the optimal potential market for housing in the project area, conducted
by Laurie Volk (2002 Knight Fellow). Peter Brown (2001 Knight Fellow), director
of the Mercer Center for Service-Learning and Community Development, has played
a key role in Beall’s Hill’s development throughout the initiative.
The charrette
work and market study were key elements in the subsequent development of the
neighborhood, which has focused on reversing decades of deterioration and
developing strategies to make the neighborhood a great place to live. Several
organizations have been integral in the revitalization, including the Knight
Foundation, Mercer University, and CORE Neighborhood Revitalization, Inc. The
design work on the project has been led by Dhiru Thadani (2001 Knight Fellow),
principal of Ayers/Saint/Gross Architects + Planners.
The CNU Charter
Award was given for a set of graphic form-based codes and architectural
guidelines developed by Ayers/Saint/Gross. The goal of the guidelines is to
establish a framework for developers and investors to ensure that the evolving
public realm of the neighborhood reflects best design practices. The design
team’s work began where the original Knight charrette finished, with the
objective of making the charrette plan into reality.
In January 2005
the Planning & Zoning Commission approved rezoning that allows for mixed-use
development, about $500,000 in city bond money has been put toward road
improvements, the facades of 14 homes belonging to longtime homeowners were
redone last summer, work is progressing on a project for a neighborhood retail
center, the Hazel Street bridge is going to be rebuilt, Habitat for Humanity has
built two homes, the new Hope VI housing should have occupants by Thanksgiving.
Phase I of the project calls for 36 houses to be built, 11 of them by nonprofit
organizations.
“The progress in
reweaving the urban fabric of Beall’s Hill is a major success for the
neighborhood, for Macon, for all of the institutions involved, and for the
Knight Program,” notes Charles C. Bohl, director of the Knight Program in
Community Building. “It has achieved its level of success through the collective
post-charrette efforts of dozens of individuals within the community and friends
from the outside, including some of our own Knight Fellows. I’m thrilled with
the progress made and proud to have played a role.”
Beall’s Hill is
also recipient of the 2002 Carter Partnership Award for a partnership between a
major Georgia institution and a community.
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