Officials from Avondale Estates and Avila Real Estate have agreed to a series of monthly meetings discussing property the developer owns near downtown.
In 2014 Avila (then called Euramex Management) bought the former Fennner Dunlop mill site, a total 13 acres, and the two-acre property west of downtown on North Avondale Road. But except for demolishing the “erector set” on North Avondale, no work has commenced on either property.
Avila and the city have met sporadically over the last three years. Mayor Jonathan Elmore said that with both sides agreeing to regular meetings it’s possible they could coordinate their various projects. The city is hoping to develop the four acres it owns just south of the mill site.
“We want everybody communicating,” Elmore said. “We understand there are some different objectives. They’re a developer and they want to profit off their 13 acres, and as a city we want to grow our 180 [downtown] acres.”
On its web site Avila has tentatively named the mill district development “278 Oak … anticipated to be comprised of multifamily rental, for-sale townhomes and other uses.”
Although the site doesn’t say, preliminary plans have called for 300 to 400 living units within the project.
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