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D E C E M B E R / J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 0 | MACONMAGAZINE.COM 4 5 "IF YOU CAN DO THIS IN MACON, GEORGIA, YOU'VE GOT A HELL OF A STORY TO TELL. IT'S PART OF YOUR SONGS, IT'S PART OF WHO YOU ARE." - JESSICA WALDEN of what made Capricorn so legendary. This little Southern town, divided by decades of racism, developed this whole other personality that shaped American music – what a perfectly rebellious moment. If you can do this in Macon, Georgia, you've got a hell of a story to tell. It's part of your songs, it's part of who you are." SAVED BY COLLABORATION AND CREATIVITY After Capricorn filed for bankruptcy in 1979, the building struggled to find a consistent occupant as the surrounding area downtown fell into disrepair. A late 1990s fire did extensive damage to the building, and in 2010, after years of vacancy, Capricorn landed on the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation's top 10 places in peril list. The Peyton Anderson Foundation offered grant money to then- owners NewTown Macon to stabilize the building until further plans could be made. "Peyton Anderson deserves credit for saving this building. If they hadn't stepped in, the building would've probably collapsed on us," says Larry Brumley, Mercer's senior vice president for marketing communications and chief of staff. Finally, a plan started to take shape. Jim Daws of Sierra Development purchased the building, then promptly donated it to Mercer, along with $350,000 to assist with renovation. In December 2015, Sierra Development, NewTown Macon, Mercer University and Southern Pine Plantations announced their plans for the Lofts at Capricorn, the largest market-rate development in downtown Macon's history, featuring 82 one- bedroom apartments and 55 two-bedroom lofts, a clubhouse, an outdoor pool, parking and street-level retail space, all surrounding the revitalized, re-energized historic music space that would become Mercer Music at Capricorn. Gathering the funds to finish a project this monumental took some time. All total, Mercer Music at Capricorn sports a project cost of over $5.2 million. It has been privately funded by historic tax credits, grants from the Peyton Anderson Foundation and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, and smaller gifts from companies, foundations and individual donors. "What makes this opportunity so unique is that the fire in the late '90s almost burned the whole block, yet ultimately it saved the structure," says Jessica Walden. "That fire created this giant hole so that the developer could see the cleared land as an opportunity to build the lofts. Usually, existing structures would be torn down in scenarios like