Macon tears down abandoned building on Houston Ave. in effort to improve neighborhood

A blighted and abandoned building located at 2988 Houston Avenue was demolished Wednesday as part of the county’s “Blight Fight” project.

Mayor Lester Miller said the event marks the 688th Blight Fight demolition. The project began in April 2021 to remove unsafe structures.

“Our Blight Fight is about more than just removing dangerous structures - it’s about building back up and strengthening an entire area, and I’m proud of the work our departments and community partners have begun here along Houston Avenue,” Miller said.

During a news conference Wednesday, Miller also spoke about more improvements coming to the area, including the new Frankie E. Lewis Park, the start of construction of the Park at Cliffview Lake, and the future of improved family health care in the area.

One of the new health care improvements will be a new nonprofit health center, First Choice Primary Care.

Katherine McLeod, director of First Choice Primary Care, said the center will provide primary care to anyone regardless of their ability to pay.

“We will also have a pharmacy that will be open to anyone. You may have noticed there are no pharmacies in this part of town,” she said. “So, we will have a pharmacy, doctors, nurse practitioners and some behavioral health services so we can continue to serve this neighborhood.”

McLeod said they wanted the facility to be in the heart of the neighborhood and they’d have it substantially completed in August.

Miller said since the work started in 2021 has seen substantial improvement, and the county continues to take steps in the right direction.

“We must leverage all of our resources in our neighborhoods to truly address the needs of our friends and families because it doesn’t matter which side of the county we live in, what happens to one of us - happens to all of us,” Miller said. “We are all in this together.”