A market building on Atlanta Highway in Gainesville was given special use permission from the Hall County Planning Commission last week to operate as an event venue.
The La Villita Market is on Atlanta Highway near Ray Street. The market's owner, Garcia Torres, said she had the building renovated in 2016 after seeing a decline in business. She said she has been hosting weddings and other parties since then but did not realize that she needed special use approval from the planning commission.
"Maybe two weeks ago, we found out it wasn't in order," Torres said.
The market currently houses a restaurant, an ice cream shop and a tax service, but Torres said that those stores take up around 6,000 square feet of the roughly 35,000 square-foot building.
The area of the market that can house events is a large banquet hall that Torres said was opened in the 2016 renovation.
"It's a very big building and it's a very large cost to run it," Torres said. "You have to find another function and you have to find something that would be good for the community. We think that that's something good for the community, for people not to have to drive to far out so it's more accessible."
The county planning commission approved the special use unanimously. The use will not require a vote from the Hall County Commission.
Torres has operated the La Villita Market since 2002.
