Thirteen houses in Beall’s Hill in Macon,

Thirteen houses in Beall’s Hill in Macon, Georgia, have received facelifts to show developers what the neighborhood, which has an ambitious new urban redevelopment plan, can become. About $600,000 has been allocated for public improvements in the neighborhood adjacent to Mercer University. The money has been drawn from some $3 million in bonds issued by the city and $6 million from Mercer, the federal government, and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. Thirty-six houses are to be built in the first phase, 11 of them probably by not-for-profit organizations such as Habitat for Humanity.