Gainesville chef aims to ‘wow’
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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
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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.
McAuley
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