ALBANY, Ga. (WALB) - The City of Albany adopted its Downtown Master Plan in October 2022, a 10-year roadmap with 12 big ideas to bring people back to live, work, and play in the heart of the city. The city says nearly $200 million in projects are in the pipeline. But three years in, residents are asking: Is the progress moving fast enough? Is the process transparent enough? And does the plan actually reflect what they want?

WALB News 10’s Brittanye Blake explores those questions in a three part series, now streaming on the WALB News app, Roku, Apple TV, and Fire TV. Click the buttons above to view each part in full.

Part 1: Promises, Progress, and Plans

Downtown Albany has a 10-year master plan (adopted Oct. 2022) with 12 major ideas to revive the area, but some residents say progress is slow and the funding process lacks transparency. Community advocate Blythe Henderson points to empty buildings and calls for clearer, data-based measures of success, while city leaders argue the plan is publicly trackable and cite more than $200 million in projects underway. Officials highlight a public-private partnership model (including about $13 million in low-interest loans) and ongoing redevelopment efforts like the St. Nicholas Hotel, the IDP Davis Exchange Building with 56 residential units, and work tied to the Albany Museum of Art and the Ritz Theatre.

Part 2: Can Albany do what Macon did?

WALB compares Albany’s approach to Macon’s decades-long turnaround, driven by NewTown Macon—a privately funded redevelopment group seeded in 1996 by philanthropic capital and credited with tracking about $1 billion in public-private investment. NewTown Macon emphasizes data-driven market studies that help guide development and attract banks and developers, contributing to high downtown occupancy rates (about 90% for lofts and 85% for retail). Albany officials say they don’t have a similar private endowment, but are using tools like tax allocation districts, a national historic district designation, and roughly $13 million in low-interest trust fund loans to spur redevelopment.

Part 3: What do residents say downtown needs to attract people?

Albany residents say a thriving downtown will require more than construction—it needs amenities that match what people want: more restaurants, entertainment, and places to live. The city’s downtown master plan market analysis cites major hurdles, including a 35% commercial vacancy rate, nearly 1,100 jobs lost since 2011, and an overall shrinking population, while also projecting a need for roughly 325–380 new downtown housing units over the next 15 years to support additional businesses. Residents like Adam Inyang argue Albany has the resources to succeed with “smart, intentional investment,” and that engagement from the community can help keep money circulating locally.

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