Avondale open house to review potential development
Avondale Estates is holding an open house for reviewing plans to redevelop five downtown acres owned by either the city or the Avondale Estates Downtown Development Authority. The event is 6-8 p.m. July 29 at City Hall, 21 North Avondale Plaza.
Mostly this will include updating details on what DDA Executive Director Sam Collier has called a potentially “catalytic development that [could] be the centerpiece for downtown.”
The city paid about $1 million for four of those acres in 2013, which it paid off last year. Preliminary plans include two retail/restaurant buildings fronting North Avondale Road and, behind them, a “town green” of about two acres.
Expect for city officials to discuss Decatur-based Fabric Developers, the only qualified respondent to Avondale’s Request for Qualifications regarding the project’s commercial portion. Also expect clarification and discussion on the recently created Urban Redevelopment Agency, which can issue a bond anticipation note for financing projects like this one.
A number of Avondale experts believe that completing this project, particularly the park, could lead directly to a much larger development encompassing 13 acres immediately north, former home of the old Fenner Dunlop Mill that has been owned by Avila Real Estate for about five years.
