Lee Gilmer Memorial Airport for corporate users: runways, hangars and the corridors nearby

Lee Gilmer Memorial Airport is Gainesville’s city-owned airport, run by the City of Gainesville’s Public Works Department (City of Gainesville), and the Greater Hall Chamber places it one mile south of the city center (Greater Hall Chamber). For a company weighing Hall County, the airport answers a specific question: can a corporate aircraft be based or flown in close to the site? Here is what the city publishes, where other sources round differently, and which commercial corridors sit closest.

The City of Gainesville says Runway 11/29 is 4,001 feet long and Runway 5/23 is 5,500 feet long with an approach lighting system (MALSR) and instrument landing system (ILS). (City of Gainesville, checked Oct 19, 2026)

Runways: use the city’s numbers

The figures are the city’s (City of Gainesville). Other published sources round the runway figures differently. We use the city’s figures because the city owns and runs the field. For a flight department, the line that matters most is the instrument landing system on the longer runway, since it bears on whether a trip can go in poor weather. Whether your aircraft fits the runway is a question for your chief pilot or operator, using current FAA data, not for a property guide.

Hangars and the fixed-base operator

The city says the airport offers 81 T-hangars and 12 corporate hangars for lease to private and corporate aircraft (City of Gainesville). Champion Aviation is the fixed-base operator, providing fuel, tie-downs and shared corporate aircraft storage (City of Gainesville). The city does not publish hangar openings or a wait time on the page we checked on October 19, 2026, so treat both as questions:

• Is a corporate hangar open now, and if not, how does the city handle hangar requests?
• What are the hangar door dimensions and the lease term?
• Which fuel types does the FBO carry, and what does shared corporate storage include?
• Who handles aircraft maintenance on the field?

Airport questions go to Gainesville Public Works and to Champion Aviation directly. If the company will not base an aircraft but expects visiting aircraft, the questions are simpler: fuel, tie-down or shared storage with the FBO, and ground transport from the field to the site.

• Lee Gilmer Memorial Airport is owned and operated by the City of Gainesville's Public Works Department. City of Gainesville
• Lee Gilmer Memorial Airport offers 81 T-hangars and 12 corporate hangars for lease to private and corporate aircraft. City of Gainesville
• Champion Aviation is the fixed-base operator at Lee Gilmer Memorial Airport, providing fuel, tie-downs and shared corporate aircraft storage. City of Gainesville

Which corridors sit closest

Our Corridor Fit data measures straight-line distance from each corridor’s center to the airport on OpenStreetMap data. Its airport test passes corridors within 5 miles:

Distances are straight-line from each corridor's center, measured on OpenStreetMap data (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL) on Oct 19, 2026, not drive times. Rail and industrial land are what OpenStreetMap maps inside each corridor's analysis circle, which is not an official boundary; OSM's industrial mapping is incomplete, so treat acreage as a floor. Who governs each corridor comes from OSM city limits; confirm a parcel on the county GIS.

Beyond the 5-mile test: Flowery Branch at 6.7 miles, GA 365 and the Inland Port at 6.9, Thompson Bridge Road at 7.6, the Braselton-Buford edge at 10.5 and Lula-Clermont at 11.6. The airport corridor itself is the one to look at first for a mixed office and industrial user. Its center is 0.8 miles straight-line from I-985 Exit 20, with Norfolk Southern and CSX track mapped within 1.2 miles and about 531 acres of mapped industrial land around it. The chamber’s 2012 report notes ProCare Rx opened a 43,000-square-foot headquarters and operations center at Exit 20 (Greater Hall Chamber, 2012); that is a dated record, not a current occupancy claim.

Zoning near the field

Both local codes carry an airport overlay. Gainesville’s ULDC lists an Airport overlay district among its overlays (Gainesville ULDC), and Hall County’s UDC lists an Airport Overlay (AO) among its special and overlay districts (Hall County UDC). A site near the runways can carry overlay standards on top of its base district, so check the overlay layer on the shared GIS and ask for it in the zoning verification letter. Because the corridor around the field includes both city and unincorporated land, start with who governs the parcel; inside the city, the Gainesville zoning steps apply.

What else sits near the field

The airport is not the only connection close by. Midtown, 1.4 miles straight-line from the field, holds Gainesville’s Amtrak station at 116 Industrial Boulevard (Amtrak), which Amtrak’s Crescent serves (Amtrak). The NGMC medical district, 2.4 miles out, is centered on Northeast Georgia Medical Center Gainesville at 743 Spring Street NE (NGHS), the largest employer on the chamber’s 2025 list with 11,417 employees (Greater Hall Chamber). And downtown, 1.9 miles away, holds the Hall County Courthouse at 225 Green Street SE (Greater Hall Chamber) and the city offices. For a regional office that expects visitors by air, rail and road, that cluster is the practical draw, more than any single runway figure.

Inside city limits, a few permitting points follow from the jurisdiction rather than the airport. Building permits go through the city’s Accela portal (City of Gainesville), the Gainesville Fire Department reviews construction plans for fire code (Gainesville Fire Department), and no building may be occupied until the building official issues a certificate of occupancy (Gainesville ULDC).

Where it fits in a site search

An airport is a tiebreaker, not a starting point. Begin with the use: our office and medical office guide covers downtown, Midtown and the medical district, all within 2.4 miles straight-line of the field, and the industrial guide covers the Exit 20 area. Then run the corridors through Corridor Fit with the airport test switched on.

Questions people ask

Written by the Gainesville GA Commercial Real Estate Editorial Team. AI tools help us draft; people check every fact against its source before it publishes.