Construction on the long-awaited Avondale MARTA station development in east Decatur, now given the name E.co East, should get started in October. The news came Friday morning during a project update given by Columbia Ventures Managing Partner Dillon Baynes before the city’s development authority.
The first phase of the joint development between Columbia, MARTA and Decatur will cover 7.7 acres of the old MARTA parking lot. This includes 288 market-rate apartments, 22,000 square feet of commercial space and 92 units of affordable housing for seniors 62 and over.
Baynes said his company has completed financing on the senior component and should close on the remainder of the housing units in early September. He said construction should take 14 to 18 months.
“That’s an important gateway to the city,” said Assistant City Manager Lyn Menne. “Because we’re building residential units adjacent to MARTA, we want to make that area more pedestrian focused, less auto-centric. Plus we want to work with Avondale [Estates] in improving that [College Avenue/North Avondale Road] corridor.”
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