Ribbon cut for short-term rental units, Perrydise Pathway at Commodore Building

PERRY, Ga. — Around 13 months ago, there was a ceremonial groundbreaking for the Commodore Building on Commerce Street during a Food Truck Friday event. At Food Truck Friday last week, a ceremonial ribbon cutting took place celebrating the Perrydise Pathway and short-term rental units upstairs, while a future celebration will take place when the downstairs restaurant is completed.

Perry Mayor Randall Walker said the whole process leading to the ribbon cutting had led to more talks of constructing similar buildings in other areas of downtown.

“I’ve been involved when this was a lot that was all broken up with asphalt and was used as parking, and there was a continuous discussion about: ‘What do we do with that infill?’” Walker said. “Now we’ve got two cases of beautiful infills here with us this evening that people who have a vision about what you can do in a downtown to make it attractive for a destination point — and that’s what we’re doing here.”

Meredith Lockerman, building owner, said there have been some promising concept meetings regarding the downstairs portion of the building. She said it was also quite the honor to be part of a new building popping up in the downtown of a historic city like Perry — and the Commodore Building had to look the part.

“Our beautiful city is 200 years old, and we’re building a brand-new building in the middle of a 200-year-old city, in the downtown footprint,” Lockerman explained. “We wanted to be sure that it looked historic and that it really represented the old 200-year-old city that we’re so proud of — so that’s the color scheme, and everything that we’ve done hopefully represents that.”

She said one of the goals regarding the short-term rental units was to honor local artists, merchants and notable Perry residents while people visited the city and stayed in the rooms upstairs. Each unit features a book that makes note of Perry history, things to do and places to shop locally as well as the work of local artists in the form of wall paintings and custom towel racks among other things.

The three units are named in honor of Perry natives that have done great things in and outside of the community: Deborah Roberts, television journalist; Casey Hayward, professional football player and founder of non-profit Hayward’s Hands; and James Farmer, best-selling author and interior designer.

Some bricks are engraved in the outside pathway as part of the “Make Your Mark on Downtown Perry” project.

The downstairs portion of the building features an approximately 3,000 square foot restaurant space with a bar and outdoor patio available for lease.

The building was a Downtown Development Authority (DDA) project with stacked GAP financing from the Georgia Cities Foundation Loan, the Downtown Development Rural Loan Fund. The DDA went on to sell the building with stipulations for a project of this kind.

Visit thecommodorebuilding.com for more information.

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