About The times. (Gainesville, Ga.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 8, 2023)
Gainesville chef aims to ‘wow’ diners with plant-based cuisine. LIFE, 1B Midweek Edition - FEBRUARY 8-9,2023 | $1.00 | GAINESVILLE, GEORGIA | gainesvilletimes.com Honestly Local Police seek killer of pregnant woman Victim’s unborn child also pronounced dead; suspect faces malice murder, feticide charges BY NICK WATSON nwatson@gainesvilletimes.com A 22-year-old pregnant Gaines ville woman was found Jan. 29 strangled to death, lying on a bed in her room. Nine days after her death, police continue to search for a Gainesville man accused of killing her and her unborn child. Gainesville Police responded to a 911 call around noon Jan. 29 Jose Sanic to Cooley Drive about a medical situation. Juana Jose, 22, was found unconscious in her bed. She was transported to the hospital, where she and her unborn child were pronounced dead. An autopsy revealed that Jose died by strangulation, police said. Max Rocael Calel Sanic, 20, was charged with malice murder and felony feticide. Lt. Kevin Holbrook did not have information on where Sanic is believed to be. Holbrook did not know Sanic’s exact relationship to Jose, though the two did know one another. Juana’s 17-year-old brother, Jaime Carmelo Jose, told The Times she was in bed when he found her. “I came to wake her up because she was going to work,” Jaime said. Jaime said Juana was three months pregnant. On Tuesday, Feb. 7, police released an Illinois driver’s license photo of Sanic. The family said they are hoping to take Jose’s body back to Guate mala for a funeral. The Times reached out to the Consulate General of Guatemala in Atlanta to see what assistance the agency could provide. Holbrook did not release any new information Tuesday. Anyone with information on Sanic’s whereabouts is asked to call 911. ‘Such a tremendous asset’ COURTYARD - - —r — - r M Photos by SCOTT ROGERS I The Times Construction on The National multi-use development continues Thursday, Feb. 2, in downtown Gainesville. The National moving toward completion in Gainesville this year Construction continues Thursday, Feb. 2, inside Courtyard by Marriott, the hotel that’s part of The National multi-use development in downtown Gainesville. BY JEFF GILL jgill@gainesvilletimes.com Work lights are strung down the hall way, as workers weave in and out of rooms and out of stairwells. “It’s like a beehive,” said Brian Trot ter of Ecker Construction, the Buford- based contractor on The National project in downtown Gainesville. It won’t be long until the temporary lights, bright as they are, are down and permanent, decorative fixtures are up, and rooms smelling of fresh paint will be fully furnished and ready for guests. “Our team continues to make signifi cant progress as we target a late spring opening of the Courtyard by Marriott Hotel,” said Jonathan Collins, president of Capstone, the project’s developer. The seven-story, 130-room hotel that’s part of Capstone’s multi-use The National in downtown Gainesville is nearly done, while work also continues on an adjacent 157-unit, five-story apart ment building. Work could finish by late summer on the apartments, Trotter said. Ecker Construction gave The Times an inside look last week of the develop ment at 111 Green St., also bounded by E.E. Butler Parkway and Washington and Spring streets, with the hotel facing E.E. Butler and the apartments facing Green. A plaza separates the hotel and apart ments, with The National also featuring a parking deck on the bottom floor. The $80 million project also includes redevelopment of the Walton Jackson building, a 35,000-square marble building that sits at Green and Washington streets. The tour began at that location, which will feature 3,000 square feet of confer ence space in a building once occupied by Turnstile Deli and later Midland Sta tion Coffee Co. The building now serves as office space for Ecker. Also in the works next to the confer ence center is North Georgia BBQ, which is slated to open its third location — with the others operating in Cleveland and Dahlonega — sometime this year, co owner Matt Harper has said. The National’s appearance may seem familiar, especially to longtime residents. The project will incorporate some of the look of the old Regions Bank, a 19608- era structure that stood on the property before its demolition last year. For those watching the construction progress, one steady presence has been the crane soaring above the project. It will be removed in March or April, Trot ter said. “It will take an even bigger crane to disassemble it,” he said. In an update last June of the project at a Greater Hall Chamber of Commerce meeting, Capstone Chairman Jeff Payne said monthly apartment rents could run between $1,400-$1,500 and low $2,000s. Hotel room rates weren’t available at the time. The apartment building, featuring one- and two-bedroom units, will be targeted to young professionals, including hospital interns, and “empty-nesters who don’t want the big house anymore but want to be where they can walk to town and have dinner,” Payne said in June. Overall, Capstone officials said they’re excited to add to Gainesville’s fast-devel oping downtown, where residents are watching as other developments, such as Gainesville Renaissance and Bourbon Brothers, take shape. “We look forward to delivering such a tremendous asset to our community,” Collins said. Officials say program to help homeless, not evict them BY BEN ANDERSON banderson@gainesvilletimes.com Editor’s note: This published in a previous E-Paper edition and is being provided here for print-only readers. A city program meant to help the homeless got off to a rocky start in January when, a day after the program’s first meeting, code enforce ment officials left eviction notices at two home less camps and told about 25 residents they had a week to get off city property. That was a mistake, city officials said. And the next day, the eviction notices were rescinded. Mayor Sam Couvillon, who was not at the meeting but was briefed on what happened, said code enforcement “misunderstood” their assignment. “Our goal is to try to identify people who are ■ Please see HOMELESS, 3A SCOTT ROGERS I The Times Gainesville City Manager Brian Lackey talks about the city’s new program to address homelessness Friday, Feb. 3. Flowery Branch man accused of sharing child porn BY NICK WATSON nwatson@gainesvilletimes.com A Flowery Branch man was accused of shar ing child pornography through an instant mes saging platform, according to authorities. Jason Hunter McAuley, 30, was charged with three counts of sexual exploitation of a minor. He was booked in to the Hall County Jail Monday, Feb. 6, where he remains with no bond. The Hall County Sheriff’s Office started investigating after an October 2021 cybertip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children regarding an image sent that preceding July. The Sheriff’s Office determined that the image was shared from a New Fern Lane home in Flowery Branch, leading investigators to inter view McAuley. Investigators also seized his cell phone for forensic processing, which found one image of child pornography once completed in early Jan uary, according to the Sheriff’s Office. McAuley faces two counts from the possession and distribution of the image in July 2021 and the third count from the image found during the forensic processing. 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