Lanier Christian Academy officials say they've secured the property to build a new campus next door to the school's current facility in south Hall County.
The announcement was made on the school's YouTube channel. Executive Director Strategic Giving and Project Development for the school, Al Gainey, said the new campus will be built on 36 acres of land at the corner of Winder Highway and Strickland Road in Chestnut Mountain.
The school is set to hold a number of small group meetings in the coming weeks to give parents and stakeholders opportunities to see the site plans, talk with school officials and give input on the campus' development. Dates and times of those meetings can be found on the school's website. The first meeting will be on August 15 at 8:30 a.m.
Gainey said officials pursued a number of potential sites before the opportunity to build next to their current location presented itself.
"The Lord kept bringing us back to the 12 and a half acres next to our current location," Gainey said. "Twelve and a half acres isn't enough, so we went to the property owner next door and that property owner said if you can get the 12 and a half acres, we will gift to the school the 24 acres. That would give us a total of 36 acres and we can build a campus."
He said the school also faced a challenge when the economic downturn caused by the Coronavirus pandemic created funding issues for the project.
"We did have $600,000 in our capital campaign account, but that wasn't enough," Gainey said. "Our prayer was answered. We, over the last 90 to 120 days, raised another $430,000."
According to the plans shown on the school's video, the new campus will feature two multi-story academic buildings, a 30,000 square-foot gymnasium, a 2,000-seat spiritual life center, a baseball field and a 10,000-seat football, track and soccer stadium. The site would have access from both Winder Highway and Strickland Road.
Gainey said it will be a phased project that is expected to take as much as 10 years to develop and is expected to cost several million dollars.
Director of Institutional Advancement at Lanier Christian Academy, David Roberts, said the goal of the new campus is to enhance the experience for students at the school.
"Everything that we're talking about is about these students that are coming on this campus. We are fully committed to seeing fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ graduate from Lanier Christian Academy and move out into this community and into this world," Roberts said. "That is why we do what we do and we want to share that vision."
