Mercer University President William D. Underwood, Macon-Bibb County Mayor Lester Miller, School of Medicine Dean Dr. Jean Sumner and other University and community leaders ceremoniously break ground at the site of the new medical school building on Nov. 7 in downtown Macon. Photo by Leah Yetter

Mercer University and community leaders held a ceremonial groundbreaking Nov. 7 at the site of a new medical school building. This building and multi-use development will transform the gateway to downtown Macon.

The development, anchored by the new home of Mercer’s School of Medicine, will be located along Riverside Drive between Spring and Second streets. (View the animated fly around video here.) It also will include residential lofts, retail space, offices and parking decks.

“It's going to be magnificent,” Mercer President William D. Underwood said, looking out at the building site. “It's going to sit right over here and provide a beautiful gateway into downtown Macon, and I think the development around it is going to confirm in the minds of people that this is a city really on the move.” 

The ceremony was held in partnership with Macon-Bibb County, the Urban Development Authority and Sierra Development, which is developing the adjacent facilities.

Sheridan Construction will build the new $80 million medical school facility, which is being designed by McMillan Pazdan Smith, the architectural firm that also designed Legacy Hall, Five Star Stadium, Drake Field House, OrthoGeorgia Park and the medical school building in Columbus, among other Mercer facilities.

The new 150,000-square-foot building will have two wings — one three-story and one five-story — with a courtyard in between. Each wing will feature a rooftop terrace, and at 120 feet tall, the building will be among the tallest in Macon. Primary entrances will be located off Spring Street and Riverside Drive, which is undergoing plans for a lane reduction and landscaped median.

The School of Medicine has grown dramatically since it opened in 1982, more than doubling the number of M.D. students in Macon from 96 to 240 and adding Ph.D. and master’s-level programs for a total Macon enrollment of 322. The new building, which is expected to open in fall 2028, will be better suited to meet the needs of the growing student population and provide more advanced equipment and technology.

“The transformative research, the excellence in education that will occur in this building will provide physicians for not only Macon and Middle Georgia but for areas across our state, particularly in rural underserved areas,” said School of Medicine Dean Jean R. Sumner, M.D., MACP.