For the first time since Avila Real Estate bought property in Avondale Estates, a company representative showed up to one of the city’s public meetings last week.
The news wasn’t the most exciting. Civil Engineer Emmanuel Doulgerakis reported the developer wants to store dirt on the old Fenner Dunlop site, on the southeast corner off Laredo Drive. He said the soil would get piled no higher than 18 feet, would cover less than an acre, and that it would be used strictly for Avondale Estates and no other Avila project.
Avila purchased the old mill site, about 13 acres, in the fall of 2014, and also purchased two acres on North Avondale Road a few months before that.
City Manager Clai Brown delivered some strong words to the commission and engineer.
“I don’t want to say we have to hold their feet to the fire,” Brown said. “But they have owned it three years. We’ve got to ask, where are we going with this, what’s the plan?”
In October Avila presented an informal site plan to several members of the city’s staff, commission and downtown authority calling for 400 to 500 apartments and 60 townhomes off Laredo. But those drawings were reportedly similar to plans Avila/Euramex presented to an entirely different commission two years earlier.
About the Author
