Youth rowers from across the Southeast will compete for re- gional honors at Lake Lanier Olympic Park next May. The venue continues to welcome world-class athletes and competitions more than 25 years after it hosted the 1996 Summer Games

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By Pamela A. Keene

Youth rowers from across the Southeast will compete for regional honors at Lake Lanier Olympic Park next May.

The venue continues to welcome world-class athletes and competitions more than 25 years after it hosted the 1996 Summer Games.

Six regional youth championships will take place in the Central, Mid-Atlantic, Northeast, Northwest, Southwest and Southeast on the same weekend of May 13-14. They are qualifiers for the USRowing Youth National Championships June 8-11 in Sarasota, Fla.

The event marks a return to the championship rotation for the Lake Lanier venue. The six youth regional events will allow closer access to young paddlers across the country.

“Reconnecting with USRowing will not only help the organization achieve its mission of breathing new life into summer competition, it will play an important role to help Gainesville and Lake Lanier be catalysts for that change,” said Robyn Lunch, director of tourism for the city.

“It is exciting for us to once again host a youth rowing event of this caliber.”

Officials estimate that the event will bring in more than 1,300 athletes and have a $750,000 economic impact to benefit local businesses and hoteliers and those providing goods and services.

“The City of Gainesville and the Gainesville Sports Alliance have continued to invest in the venue and it is drawing national attention,” Lynch said.

“With the newly renovated boathouse slated for completion in spring 2024, we will be wellpositioned to stage even more world-class athletes in a facility that will be among the best in the world.”

The park has long been a training site for teams from across the nation who come South to train in milder winters. From January to early April 2023, officials anticipate more than 18-20 collegiate teams will come to Gainesville from such places as Notre Dame, Michigan and Virginia.

Additionally, events like September’s Atlanta Hong Kong Dragon Festival, the John Ferriss Regatta and the American Youth Cup keep Gainesville and Lake Lanier at the forefront of both competitive sports.

To learn more about Lake Lanier Olympic Park and the Greater Gainesville Sports Alliance, visit exploregainesville.org.

Previous rowing event at LLOP.

FILE PHOTO

By Pamela A. Keene

Carroll Daniel/New South has been chosen as the general contractor for the Lanier Islands Conference Center at the October meeting of the Lake Lanier Islands Development Authority Board.

“Eight firms responded to the RFQ/RFP; five firms made the shortlist firms, four firms made a presentation to the Conference Center subcommittee,” said Bill Donohue, executive director of LLIDA. “The board approved the selection of the highest ranked firm, Carroll Daniel Construction/New South and authorized the next step of developing the contract language on the project.”

The contracting process will be overseen by the Georgia State Financing and Investment Commission. The commission’s Chief of Staff Gerald Pilgrim and Deputy Executive Director Gifton Passley were introduced to the board at the meeting.

The board approved a costsharing partnership for the Impact Project Management Inc. invoice – LLIDA, will provide 45 percent of the costs; Lake Lanier Islands Management will fund 55 percent. The project, which includes the 115,000-square-foot conference center and a separate 300room hotel to be built on the site of the former PineIsle Hotel, has been in the works for five years. The state has invested $62 million in the public-private partnership with Lake Lanier Islands Management, which operates Lanier Islands.

In May, LLIM contracted with Benchmark Resorts and Hotels to manage Legacy Lodge. The hospitality firm operates projects in nearly two dozen states.

Grier Todd, COO of Lake Lanier Islands Management, reported that the resort had strong business for the past two months.

“We’ve seen a shift in our business sectors, with our meeting and group travel coming back to 2019 levels and our leisure numbers slowing a bit,” he said. “We’re looking forward to Christmas with the packages we are offering.”

“We’re very excited about adding a whole new dimension of entertainment space for our guests in the coming months,” Virgil Williams, CEO of Lake Lanier Islands Management said. “And we’re especially pleased about how the new conference center is coming together.”

Bucky Perry, vice president of operations at Margaritaville, reported that the new dry-stack boat storage is approximately 45 percent filled with about 100 boats, and boat slip rentals on four docks are 95 percent occupied.

The next LLIDA meeting will take place on Tuesday, December 13.