MACON, Ga. — A downtown building that was gifted to the city of Macon has been vacant for over 20 years. Now, the Macon-Bibb County commission wants to change that by restoring the old Train Recreation Center on Oglethorpe Street.
"I use to come down here as a child for the recreation programs they have," said Kyle Steele.
He remembers what the building once was. Now, he works across the street.
"It's sad. It's just going down hill. Sitting there empty and vacant," Steele said.
It's also been vandalized and squatters moved in.
Steele says he hopes Bibb County restores the building, but it's been talked about since 2016.
"We're here looking to save this building, because right now it's a sad looking facility," said Mayor Robert Reichert.
The project hasn't gone through because of funding. But now, the commission is considering it.
"We're looking at it and imagining a reuse for it," Reichert said.
If the commission were to vote to revitalize the building, it would cost around $900,000 just to complete phase 1 of the project to stabilize the structure.
"We would propose this to be the blight project, because with the SPLOST, at the end of it, it has to be for public use," said Keith Moffett, Macon-Bibb county manager.
Warren Selby, who helped to get an estimate on the project's cost, says fixing it is cheaper than tearing it down.
"Just to think that you can take down a structure and rebuild it, you're actually getting into more issues structure-wise when you're trying to rebuild," Selby said.
The county has considered rehabbing the building to use it for community activities like 4-H, cooking demonstrations, and gardening classes through the University of Georgia Cooperative Extension.
"We would be able to do large classes in the facility instead of finding community partners for this space," said Karol Kelly, the county extension coordinator.
Reichert says this project would also preserve Macon's history.
"It's an adaptive reuse of the building for a wonderful purpose, and it's a gateway into downtown, the Beall Hill and in town neighborhoods," Reichert said.
In 2016 and again last year, Historic Macon listed the recreation center as one of the "Fading Five," an annual list of historic properties in danger of being lost.
The Bibb Manufacturing Company donated the building to the city of Macon back in 1966 with the stipulation it must be used by a government or nonprofit for public use.
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