Gating access to large corridor

I recently saw someone set a length of galvanized pipe in a concrete footer, and then bolt a pressure-treated fence post to the metal pipe. The galvanized pipe and footer should last essentially forever, and provide plenty of strength to support the fence/gate. The fence and gate can be replaced as needed. I thought it was a fairly clever approach. You might consider it for your application.

It's perfectly normal to have two gates without a center post, using a ground pin (often called a cane bolt) to hold the less-often used side of the gate stationary. The only downside here is that the gate will twist a bit more if side loads are applied near the top of the gate (e.g. wind, someone pushing on the gate), since the only fixed point is at the ground.

The longer the cane bolt, and the further up the gate it extends, the more support it can provide to the gate. Taking this to the extreme, if you were really concerned about the rigidity of the swinging end of the gate, you could make your own "cane bolt" out of a long section of pipe (perhaps 4 feet), and have it drop into a larger pipe set a foot or so into the concrete. That gate wouldn't go anywhere!

If the lock is separate from the handle and turns freely, my guess is the handle is the issue, not the lock. Overhead garage doors almost always latch by extending pins through the tracks on either side of the door. It is likely that one of these just got bound due to expansion, contraction, ice lifting, or whatnot. I'd try a couple things before doing anything with the lock itself. First, grab the handle and alternate between jerking the door up and down while you try to turn it. If this doesn't work, you may be able to carefully remove the trim on either side of the door. Usually there will be enough of a gap to slide in a flatbar or something similar to tap on the latching pins. If they're stuck, knocking them up and down a couple times will usually free them.