Video captures demolition of abandoned hotel in Macon, Georgia: Watch
The old Ramada hotel in Macon had been a fixture of the city's downtown skyline before it fell into years of disrepair.
An old hotel slated for demolition in a central Georgia town was sent collapsing into a cloud of dust and debris on New Year's Day.
The old Ramada hotel in Macon had been a fixture of the city's downtown skyline before it fell into years of disrepair, sitting vacant aside from the vandalism, theft and other crime it attracted, according to city officials. While several groups had tried over the years to renovate and revitalize the building, the city said none of those plans ever came to fruition.
That's why, when the Macon-Bibb County government purchased the aging building in 2023, officials decided the best course of action would be to knock down the hotel and start anew.
Video captures demolition of abandoned Georgia hotel
So, on New Year's Day, hundreds of Macon residents gathered in the early morning on Coleman Hill Park to watch as the hotel crumbled into the ground in a planned demolition. In a video the government shared on Facebook, Macon Mayor Lester Miller can be seen doing the honors of hitting a button to start the blast.
As a series of explosions could be heard destroying the structure's support pillars, causing the old hotel to fall inward, the crowd of onlookers are heard in the video erupting in cheers.
Ramada hotel was slated for demolition after government purchase
The county government purchased the downtown Ramada in 2023 for $4.5 million and immediately scheduled it for demolition due to the $100 million price tag to restore it, the Macon Telegraph reported.
While others had attempted to renovate the building in the past, those plans were always thwarted by the "many challenges in the outdated design and lack of meeting current fire and safety codes to make renovation viable," the city said in a public notice about the planned implosion.
“If that part of downtown was to benefit as other areas have, we needed to rethink the area and take a more direct role in its future,” Miller said in a statement. "We knew the opportunity was there to have a huge impact on the future of our city.”
Macon-Bibb officials plan to find a developer for the site "to build something that will truly move our Downtown forward," Alex Morrison, executive director of the Urban Development Authority, said in a statement.
The county hasn’t yet announced any formal plans for the site.
Contributing: Ryne Dennis, Savannah Morning News
Eric Lagatta covers breaking and trending news for Paste BN. Reach him at elagatta@gannett.com