Avalon cruising toward late October opening

North Fulton residents will have a new destination at the end of the month, and it promises to offer the familiar as well as a little something new.

Workers are racing to have Avalon — a $600 million mixed-use shopping and dining district at Old Milton and Westside parkways — ready to open Oct. 30.

The project will be home to such popular stores as Gap, Anthropologie, Crate & Barrel and a 12-screen Regal Cinemas. But it also will feature the only Atlanta location of popular eatery Kona Grill, offer Ford Fry’s Tex-Mex concept The El Felix and introduce Charleston restaurateur Steve Palmer’s Oak Steakhouse to the metro area.

During a tour of the work site, which is employing as many as 500 people, Liz Gillespie said new pieces of the construction puzzle were being fitted every day. Gillespie, a partner and vice president of marketing for Avalon owner North American Properties, was surprised by the number of trees that had been added since her last visit just two days earlier and the number storefront names being installed above the businesses.