Macon Magazine

34 maconmagazine.com | APRIL/MAY 2022 For added convenience, two floors of valet parking on the Truist Bank deck across the street await. Wheat enthused that this newfound inventory is vital to Macon's film industry, much of which is centered downtown. "Hotel Forty Five delivers a headquarter hotel for production companies in addition to the Marriott City Center. Hotel Forty Five maintains the flavor and uniqueness of Macon, and tells a story while being a wonderful, boutique hotel," he said. "In the past, when we booked Marriott City Center, we were limited in the size and number of convention delegates because we didn't have an overflow hotel in proximity. Hotel Forty Five allows us to increase the size of the meetings, conventions and sporting events we pursue." Occupied hotel room nights means additional hotel/motel tax dollars that help to fund 11 local attractions including Visit Macon, Macon Coliseum and City Auditorium, Lake Tobesofkee, Cherry Blossom Festival, Macon-Bibb County's General Fund, Georgia Sports Hall of Fame, Douglass Theatre, Tubman Museum, Museum of Arts and Sciences, Macon Arts Alliance and Fort Hawkins. Wheat reports that tourism produces 3,800 jobs in Macon- Bibb County. "These people are our friends and neighbors. We expect Hotel Forty Five to contribute approximately $600,000 in hotel/motel tax to the city's coffers annually, and locals appreciate a historic building that's been repurposed," he said. STORIED HISTORY Businessman Parks Lee Hay, original owner of the Hay House, Macon's National Historic Landmark, commissioned architect W. Elliott Dunwody to design the headquarters for his Bankers Health & Life Insurance Company. At the time, it was purported to be the tallest building built between New York and Miami after the Great Depression. Dunwody was the first of three generations of Dunwodys to produce designs for the high rise. In his 2008 book, "Architectural Works of W. Elliott Dunwody Sr. FAIA," author and local historian Jim Barfield describes the Bankers Insurance Building as a modern, concrete and stainless-steel structure in the Art-Deco style, likening the interiors to a fantasy of the future with elevators like rocket ships. He writes that Dunwody envisioned the building serving as a pedestal for a gleaming stainless-steel spire extending into the heavens. "Regrettably, it was never added," said Barfield. Historic Macon Foundation, in the required narrative for historic rehabilitation tax credits, wrote of the building's early history: "The four-story building, which opened in 1923 at 439 Cotton Avenue, was purpose-built to fit the narrow, triangular lot. The 11-story high rise was added in 1941. Considered one of Macon's most coveted addresses, it housed businesses from law offices and railroad companies to a beauty shop and WMAZ radio and television. It's an excellent example of a structure that retains its originally designed exterior while the interior has been adapted to a wide variety of office uses." Renamed the Southern Trust Building in 1970, six years later former Macon Mayor Buck Melton brokered a deal whereby the Macon-Bibb County Urban Development Authority (UDA) bought the building, later transferring it to the City of Macon, which, with consolidation, became a Macon-Bibb County holding. To alleviate overcrowding in City Hall, a mix of government offices, including several divisions of the former Macon Police Department, relocated there. Inarguably, the most unusual occurrence in those years was handcuffed and shackled prisoners, accompanied by investigators, en route to interviews in the Property Crimes offices, sharing elevators with other building occupants. In 2007 came another name change, with the building becoming the Willie C. Hill Annex in honor of one of Macon's first Black City Council members and one of its longest- serving members. TRANSFORMATION TO A HOME FOR HOSPITALITY The imposing building with the storied past has been reimagined and transformed into a modern, carefully curated 11-story, 94-room hotel with a vintage vibe, brimming with personality and pulsing with Macon's history. Getting it to that point is its own story. Post consolidation, in 2016, the tenants began finding alternative office space and Macon-Bibb County and the UDA conducted a study in preparation for UDA's sale of the building. According to study results, the building was best suited for loft apartments, and the UDA sold the building to IDP, a Valdosta-based real estate company, which hired Dunwody/Beeland Architects Inc. for the redesign. PHOTO BY MARYANN BATES

• Cover