[1][2] In addition, Gurney Drive has become part of George Town's Central Business District due to the mushrooming of commercial properties and shopping malls.

A land reclamation project at Seri Tanjong Pinang has reversed the erosion, leading to the accretion of silt and mud off Gurney Drive.

[5] Gurney Drive sits on reclaimed land created off Teluk Ayer Rajah, the bay that once existed between George Town and Tanjung Tokong.

The suggestion was never implemented, and today, the section where the casuarina trees were planted remains a distinct, leafy part of the seaside promenade.

Gurney Drive was once a sandy beach where people could collect seashells i.e. siput remis or small mussels which were abundant back then.

Back then people would swim in the sea and fishermen would return to the beach with their catches, especially for fishes and king crabs along the shore.

Until recently, there were suggestions that this area, formerly earmarked for reclamation under the suspended Penang Outer Ring Road project, be reclaimed for a recreational park or allowed to be developed into a mangrove forest.

Gurney Drive is home to many prominent pre-war houses, colonial bungalows and the College General Complex, which was once used to train Catholic priests in Thailand, India, China, Japan and Myanmar.