Connections are important in every business, and real estate is no exception. It’s a relationship business, and people working together toward a mutual goal of doing a deal, constructing a building or developing a community is what makes our industry thrive.
Connections are important in other ways, too. Infrastructure connects the places where we live, do business and enjoy our leisure time together. Connections like roads, bike paths, transit systems and sidewalks allow us to get to the places we want to go so we can do the things we want to do.
Gainesville is undergoing a transformation right now, and many don’t even realize that it is happening. New roads and bridges will connect our community in ways we could not have imagined a few years ago. These new roads are opening up vast areas of development that were once landlocked and inaccessible, virtually creating “new” real estate.
Large-scale development projects like Celebration Pointe, Butler North and West 38 are underway. The bridge spanning I-75, which will connect Celebration Point and Butler North, will tie to connections through West 38 all the way to Hull Road and into the University of Florida’s campus. It will soon be possible to travel from Archer Road west of I-75 all the way to UF’s campus without ever driving on Archer Road east of the interstate or on SW 34th Street. Park and ride facilities and bus rapid transit lanes will ease congestion and give commuters alternate ways to get to employment centers.
For cycling enthusiasts and pedestrians, the Archer-Braid trail will provide a multi-use path from the City of Archer through Haile Plantation, Celebration Pointe, Butler North, West 38, UF, downtown Gainesville and all the way to the City of Hawthorn. Talk about connections!
So, what do all these road connections mean to those of us who live here? All of these new projects are bringing unique businesses as well as mixed-use environments at a scale Gainesville has not encountered before, providing new options for shopping, dining, living and working.
But, the real win for our community is how all of these new projects and infrastructure connections will facilitate the most important connections of all: the ones we make with each other.
NICK BANKS is the managing director of Front Street Commercial Real Estate Group located in Gainesville, Florida. Front Street offers brokerage, management and mortgage banking services to its commercial real estate clients throughout Florida. Nick is a graduate of the University of Florida, where he serves as an advisory board member to the Bergstrom Center for Real Estate Studies. He is vicechairman of the board for United Way of North Central Florida and serves on the board of the Gainesville Area Chamber of Commerce. www.FrontStreet.net