Development Authority offers facade grants and business improvement grants, and we’ve had interest in recent months for hotel space, meeting and conference facilities, restaurants, and small grocery stores trying to locate here.” HOTELS, CONFERENCES, AND BUSINESS GROWTH Despite strong visitor demand, Dahlonega faces a critical infrastructure gap that limits its ability to capture larger tourism opportunities. The town currently lacks sufficient accommodation and meeting facilities to host the conferences and corporate events that frequently inquire about the destination. “We do not currently have enough rooms in Dahlonega to meet the demand, and we’re often asked to host meetings or host conferences, and we don’t have one facility that can host a bulk of the attendees,” Martin acknowledges. The city hopes to see a hotel open soon, though not necessarily in the downtown core. “We would love to see a hotel in the next year to 18 months, perhaps not in the downtown area, but in some of the blocks around the downtown area to facilitate that.” The missing piece is a conference hotel scaled appropriately for the community. “We don’t need a thousand-room facility,” Martin clarifies. “We need that scale to fit Dahlonega.” The market demand exists, but finding suitable properties or buildings remains challenging despite strong business interest in the area. Mayor Taylor confirms that the essential infrastructure foundation is already in place to support expanded development. “We’ve done an excellent job of working on our infrastructure, meaning utilities,” she explains.“The power company has no problem; they’ve just upgraded their substation near here. We have wastewater infrastructure, stormwater, all available in these spaces that we’re focusing on.” The city operates a state-of-the-art water plant and has detailed capacity projections for future growth, ensuring that when the right hotel or conference 59 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 06, ISSUE 10 DAHLONEGA, GA
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