Brian Lackey, Gainesville's city manager, recently reflected on the city's developments in 2024 and discussed what residents can look forward to next year.
Lackey highlighted The Boathouse at Lake Lanier, which opened at the end of 2023, as one of the city's biggest developments.
“This holiday season, with The Boathouse being the first year it has been open in the holidays was just a really exciting time to have that new venue,” Lackey said. “Which is paid by our hotel, motel tax and the visitors who come to Gainesville and be able to utilize that.”
This holiday season has been busy for the Boathouse, with several events booked last spring and summer.
“I think it's been the go-to place to have your Christmas party or Christmas event there,” Lackey said “Then won't be long before it will be springtime and rowers will be coming in. I think Yale is going to be using us for a couple of weeks in January for their cold spring practice.”
Lackey said the Boathouse has helped Gainesville highlight its ties to Laker Lanier.
“We sit here as a lake community, we really don't have good ties to the lake. We got a few here and there, a couple of parks, but really getting ourselves tied to the lake for both our community and visitors was kind of key,” Lackey said. “The boat house is a great first step in really showing the visitors and people who live here, that there are some great spots right on the lake.”
At the start of 2025, the proposed upgrade to the Lakeshore Mall will go before the Gainesville Planning and Appeals Board and City Council.
“You have probably seen some tidbits of that coming, that is going to go before our planning and appeals board and our city council first couple of months of the year,” Lackey said. “We have been working with branch properties who bought that property three years ago. We have had several different mall owners who really had no interest in doing anything different there. But luckily, branch properties bought it with a vision to do something different.”
Lackey said the upgrades will give the mall an open-air feel with close to an acre of green space.
“They are telling us that it's 200,000 square feet of retail and that does not include an additional 75,000 square feet of restaurant, which we think is just crazy to think about,” Lackey said “Again, about 650 rental units total, and that's over the life of the project. They'll start with half of that initially, and if that does well, they will add another 325 to make it 650 total. But starting with just 325 and that, has a hotel component of it that we are excited about too.”
Lackey discussed the public safety training center that will be built at the Gainesville business park which will break ground in 2025.
“We will break ground on our public safety training complex. It will be one of the lots in the business park. We're excited about that to give our police and fire the first-rate facility they need to do their training and give them sort of a permanent home,” Lackey said.
Lackey provided more details on the training center and how it will benefit law enforcement and fire personnel.
“It is actually at the site of the existing shooting range that we have down there. The Shooting Range sits off the road a little bit. We don't have to relocate that, so we can fit in a new training building,” Lackey said. “It will have a ‘burn’ building on site as well as our simulated shooting area that we have moved around a few places. It will have its future, final home there, along with the classroom space that they need.”
