For this week in downtown Macon, changes in the skyline on Georgia and Hardeman Avenues will not go unnoticed, as a massive crane sets the precast for the parking deck at the Lofts at College Hill. 

Located just minutes from Mercer University the new student housing development has 147 units for 220 students and a 150-car parking-deck. In addition, two new restaurants, Boba Mocha and The Brick Macon, have already made plans to lease space located on the ground floor of the building. The project will be completed and ready to open by July 1, 2015. 

The owner of the Lofts at College Hill, Sierra Development, selected Piedmont Construction Group as construction manager for the project. Both Macon-based firms have worked together in the past on several different projects including the student housing units in Phases I, II and III of the Lofts at Mercer Village. 

The new construction of the Lofts at College Hill is an addition to the area that will help accommodate the growing student population at Mercer University. According to the Mercerian, “over the past four years, Mercer’s entering freshman classes on the Macon campus by more than 40%, from 565 in 2011 to 807 in 2014.”

Mercer University has teamed with Sierra Development to add over 500 beds when the Lofts at College Hill are completed. By July 2016 this number will increase to over 800 beds when the Lofts at Mercer are leased. “The combined investment in the five loft projects and the new hotel-restaurant development will total more than $100 million.”