MACON – Patrick Madison has been named executive director for the College Hill Alliance, effective Oct. 1. Madison is co-founder of Madison-Poss & Associates, a Macon-based regional planning and development consulting firm whose projects include College Hill Commons, home to Joshua Cup Coffee, and the Palisades, the Intown Macon condominium complex.
Madison is a certified planner through the American Institute of Certified Planners and is a Registered Environmental Professional with the National Registry of Environmental Professionals. Madison served as chairman of Macon-Bibb County Planning and Zoning Commission from 1989 to 1992. He holds a Ph.D. in Physical Geography from Indiana State University with concentrations in land use planning, site selection and geographic information systems.
“Pat is a homerun for the organization,” College Hill Co-Chair Sarah Gerwig-Moore said. “We wrote the job description for a dream candidate: someone with a planning background, familiar with our work and our partners, committed to both green and neighborhood-friendly development and supportive of community-building events and programs. Pat is all of those things and more, and I have the utmost confidence that, working with our partners, he will lead College Hill as it comes into its own.”
Madison’s 35-plus-year career in urban development includes mediation in construction, public issue, environmental and insurance cases, environmental assessments and real estate consulting, development and construction of historic renovation, multifamily and commercial projects.
“I’m looking forward to working with the residents, businesses and institutions of the College Hill Corridor as they continue their efforts to make their collective vision for the Intown and surrounding neighborhoods of Macon a reality,” Madison said. “As a planner, I admire their efforts to bring clarity, consensus and direction to that vision through a two-year process of public input and reflection culminating in the College Hill Corridor Master Plan.”
“I’m delighted that Pat Madison accepted the job. His credentials and integrity are impressive. I think InTown residents will find him to be a willing listener, as well as an inclusive leader,” InTown Neighborhood Association President Pam Thomasson said.
A resident of Macon since 1984, Madison has served as president of the Crisis Line of Bibb County, the board of directors for the Downtown Council, the Mayor’s Task Force on Solid Waste Disposal, Macon Area Planning Strategy Committee and as an adjunct faculty member at Mercer University.
Madison was a captain in the United States Army Rangers in Vietnam, where he received the Silver Star and two Purple Hearts, among other lifetime decorations.
“Our hope was to find someone who could hit the ground running on day one – with Pat we have found our guy,” Andrew Blascovich, College Hill Corridor co-chair, added. “Pat brings the right mix of knowledge, partnership building and success to make sure the College Hill Alliance achieves its mission.”
Madison said, “The staff of the College Hill Alliance has already begun translating the master plan into action through the development of specific events, programs and projects designed to support the needs and interests of the existing residents and businesses within the corridor; attract new businesses and residents; identify and secure sources of funding and facilitating collaborative engagement between the various interests within the corridor.”
The executive director is the second hire of the three staff positions for the newly formed College Hill Alliance, which is funded by a grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. A third position will be filled by the end of October.
The Knight Foundation committed $2 million to Mercer to fund the College Hill Alliance for three years and $3 million to the Community Foundation of Central Georgia to fund residents’ best ideas for transforming the neighborhoods along the College Hill Corridor. The College Hill Alliance will focus on accelerating neighborhood revitalization. Specifically, the alliance will implement the master plan that will beautify the area, create a business case to attract private investment to College Hill and seek additional funding for the neighborhood.
About the College Hill Corridor
The College Hill Corridor’s goal is to restore the social and physical fabric between the Mercer campus and downtown Macon, while adding economic value to the city’s tax base, beautifying residential and commercial areas, attracting and retaining creative young professionals and program fun public events. The College Hill Corridor Commission serves as the community advisory board to the College Hill Alliance and is a diverse organization appointed jointly by the City of Macon and Mercer. For more information, visit www.collegehillcorridor.com.
The College Hill Alliance office is located at 1624 B. Coleman Ave. in Mercer Village, behind the Georgia Public Broadcasting studio.
For more information, contact Jessica Walden, director of communications and outreach for the College Hill Alliance, at Jessica@collegehillmacon.com or 478.361.6998 (cell) / 478.301.2008 (office).
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