Clinic, transit station, stores under construction in East Gainesville

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (WCJB) - New streets, stores, and improved health care access are just some of the projects planned in East Gainesville.

Construction is underway at a 36-acre site on the Cornerstone Campus, next to the Gainesville Technology Entrepreneurship Center.

The $26.7 million project is part of the city’s Eastside Health and Economic Development Initiative.

“All our out east neighbors are really going to be served well by this,” said Mayor Harvey Ward.

A new UF Health Urgent Care Center is scheduled to open up this summer. Gainesville and Alachua County leaders each gave $2.25 million in funding to increase healthcare access for residents.

“It’s a feeling, I think, of community pride in having a medical facility that belongs to East Gainesville, that belongs to the Hawthorne Road neighborhood,” said Ward.

The project map includes other developments, such as a Gainesville Fire Rescue station, a grocery store, and a RTS transfer station.

The station will include 50 park-and-ride spaces, and was funded by a grant from the Federal Transit Administration.

“[It’s] providing not only health and shopping and jobs, but transit services, the ability to participate in the whole metro economy to folks at walking distance from here,” said Ward.

City leaders also plan on building a new road, connecting Hawthorne Road to Southeast 8th Avenue and the Cornerstone property. An eastside bus transfer station is also in the works.

One resident told TV20 this this new hub will increase access for many households nearby.

“It will be great and it will be easier,” said Gussie Mann Stroud. “I pray and hope to God that all the people that live in this area, that they will enjoy cause it’s closer for all of us to get the things we need.”

Leaders say this initiative wouldn’t be possible without support from the county, UF Health, the Federal Transit Administration, and President Biden’s American Rescue Plan.

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