About The times. (Gainesville, Ga.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (March 15, 2024)
Students aim for gold at 2024 electric car race. REGION, 7C Monster waterslide to open this spring at Lanier Islands, life, ib Weekend Edition - MARCH 15-16,20241 $2.00 I GAINESVILLE, GEORGIA I gainesvilletimes.com Lakeview Academy’s Jr Thompson has overcome immeasurable obstacles. SPORTS, 1C Honestly Local Collegiate Grill BY JIM MASSARA jmassara@gainesvilletimes.com The Collegiate Grill in downtown Gainesville has changed hands - again. The new owners are husband- and-wife team Tim Lee and Claudia Lee of Buford. They purchased it in late February from another husband and wife team, Paresh and Dharma Patel, who themselves had purchased the iconic eatery in 2023. In January, the Patels had just taken over another well-known Gainesville restaurant, 2 Dog, from yet another couple, Tim and Tina Roberts. Lee told the Times he heard through a realtor friend that the Patels were looking to sell one of their three restaurants, so he bought it. The Lees moved to Georgia last year from Miami, where changes hands again they ran a Dairy Queen. The Collegiate Grill will be their first restaurant in Georgia. So why move to Georgia? “Atlanta has a very strong Korean community,” Lee said. “It's more comfortable.” As with the previous owners, Lee promised not to change anything about the Collegiate, See Grill 15A Tim and Claudia Lee of Buford, new owners of The Collegiate Grill in Gainesville. Jim Massara The Times Hall keeps growing Scott Rogers The Times Pedestrians make their way past shops along the square Thursday, March 14, in downtown Gainesville. Hall County ranks 5th in Georgia among residents added between April 2020 and July 1, 2023. Census estimate: County had 217,267 residents as of July 1 BY JEFF GILL jgill@gainesvilletimes.com Hall County's population continues to climb, ranking fifth in the state among resi dents added between April 1, 2020 and July 1,2023, according to the latest U.S. Census estimates. Hall's population as of July 1,2023, was 217,267, up from 212,621 on July 1, 2022, or a 2.2% increase, according to estimates released Thursday, March 14. The 2020 census reported Hall's population as 202,889. Hall picked up 14,378 residents between April 1, 2020 and July 1,2023. Among Georgia counties, only Gwinnett County gained the most residents during that period, with 26,220, followed in order by Forsyth, 21,600; Chero kee, 20,008; and Paulding, 14,498. Hall has been one of the state's 10 most populous counties since 2021, up from 12th in 2020, accord ing to the census. Elsewhere in the region, Jackson and Dawson coun ties were ranked 4th and 5th, respectively, among the fastest-growing coun ties in the U.S. with popu lations of 20,000 or more. Jackson grew by 5.5% and Dawson, 5.1% between July 1, 2022, and July 1, 2023. Jackson now has 88,615 residents, up from 75,912 in the 2020 census; and Dawson, 31,732, up from 26,796. Also, Cornelia in Haber sham County is the ninth- fastest growing “micro” area, growing from 46,034 in the 2020 census to 48,757 as of July 1, 2023, according to the census. “Micros must contain a population concentration, or core, of at least 10,000 but less than 50,000, the threshold for metropolitan statistical areas,” according to a bureau's webpage. See Census 13A Local groups team up to host fun ghost tours BY BEN ANDERSON banderson@gainesvilletimes.com If you're looking for a spooky night out that combines history and ghosts, you're in luck. Blackstrap Rock Hall has begun offering walking ghost tours in partnership with the Longstreet Society. “Explore the mysteries within the walls of one of Gainesville's oldest buildings, the Piedmont Hotel, as well as other haunted locations in the neighborhood,” Blackstrap says on its website. “Drinks are permitted on this chilling adventure.” The hour-long tour starts at Blackstrap Rock Hall at 852 Main St. and ends down the road at the Piedmont Hotel, the headquarters of the Longstreet Society, dedicated to telling the history of Civil War Confederate Gen. James Longsteet. “The tour is heavily influenced by General Longstreet, the tornadoes and then just some other stories that are kind of hauntings and sightings and stuff like that from our area of town,” said Blackstrap owner Kyle Sanders. At the end of the tour, you get to go inside the Piedmont Hotel — dubbed “Gainesville's most historic building” by local architect Garland Reynolds — where Longstreet Society President Richard Pilcher describes some of the spooky experiences people have had while staying there. Pilcher said one of Longstreet's descendants says she saw the ghosts of three children while staying in the room where Longstreet's first wife died. “She said during the night she woke up and the three children who died of scarlet fever — three of General Longstreet's four children at that time died of scarlet fever in Richmond during the war — and she said those three children were standing at the foot of her bed,” Pilcher said. Pilcher said the ghost tours have injected new life into his organization and the Piedmont Hotel, which has seen fewer visitors in recent years. “Since the pandemic we just don't have hardly any visitors anymore,” Pilcher said. “I don't know if it’s ever going to come back, but this looked like a good way to get some people there, a little exposure — and lord have mercy, we got a bunch of ghost stories.” See Ghost 14A ONLINE INSIDE gainesvilletimes.com/newsletters: Sign up to receive email newsletters from The Times gainesvilletimes.com/apps: Download The Times’ app for a user-friendly online experience and app notifications for big stories Calendar 2A Life Classified 8C Opinion Comics 1D Region Fun+Games 4C Sports 1B 6A 7C 1C 40901 06825 M, SCHEDULE TODAY’S VIDEO VISIT ONLINE NGPG NGPG.ORG/ON-DEMAND-CARE
