East Gainesville may soon see development of a small restaurant near Hawthorne Road and Southeast Second Avenue as part of the city's effort to improve the area.
The city has been seeking to attract businesses along Hawthorne Road, an area dubbed the "Gateway" to Gainesville, to beautify the area for visitors entering Gainesville from the east.
At its meeting Thursday afternoon, the Community Redevelopment Agency approved plans for a small restaurant on two lots at 1712 and 1714 S.E. Hawthorne Road, which the city will lease to a small business.
One goal of the restaurant would be to attract other commercial development on Hawthorne Road, said Greg Bradley, a staff member who helped present the plan.
"There are no sit-down restaurants in this vicinity," Bradley said.
The redevelopment agency purchased the lots in June and designated them as appropriate for shopping centers, retail stores or places to eat.
Currently, there is a 320-foot building on one property, which the agency intends to renovate into a restaurant with outdoor seating, Bradley said.
"I don't want to see a Whataburger there," Commissioner Jack Donovan said at the meeting.
Anthony Lyons, the redevelopment agency manager, said the business is not meant to be a chain restaurant, such as Chili's or Applebee's."This is a smaller, quirkier thing," Lyons said.
Mayor Pegeen Hanrahan suggested cooperation between the restaurant and the Eastside High School's Institute of Culinary Arts or with the Reichert House in East Gainesville, which is across the street from the proposed site.
Commissioner Scherwin Henry said he supported the innovation behind the plans but was concerned about the restaurant finding a customer base in the area and the fact that the business will stand alone.
"It is really going to have to have a strong product that citizens of that area will want to patronize," Henry said.
