MACON, Ga. (AP) — Officials in Georgia have decided to move the boyhood home of Little Richard to spare it from a highway construction project.
Macon Mayor Robert Reichert made the announcement Friday. WMAZ-TV reports (http://on.wmaz.com/YB9JwR) that the 80-year-old singer is receiving an honorary degree on Saturday from Mercer University.
Born Richard Wayne Penniman, Little Richard grew up in Macon's Pleasant Hill community. That's a neighborhood that was later divided by the construction of Interstate 75.
The "Tutti Frutti" singer's boyhood home faced possible demolition to make room for a planned expansion of the interchange where I-75 meets Interstate 16 to Savannah.
City officials said the home will be relocated to a lot near the Pleasant Hill community garden. At its new location, the house will be used as a neighborhood resource center.
