Last week by a vote of 4-1 Avondale Estates’ commission approved a temporary pop-up art park, called “The Art Lot,” which the Avondale Arts Alliance hopes to open in early August.
Approval came after four public meetings held over eight days.
The proposed site is a vacant tract on North Avondale Road two blocks west of the Tudor Village. Mayor Jonathan Elmore said that “part of the urgency” for approval stems from this site’s eventual inclusion in a city development that may start in as soon as “nine months.”
Anticipated one-year costs for the Art Lot are $49,000.
Mayor Pro Tem Terry Giager, the lone dissenting commission vote, said he’d rather take that money and split it up among downtown businesses to use for advertising. The Art Lot, he said, feels more like “a small-town agreement among friends” rather than an actual business plan.
“The [Arts Alliance] plan shows no return on the investment,” Giager said. “It is purely hypothetical, saying things like, ‘we think we can [draw customers]’ and ‘we think we can create downtown pedestrian traffic.’
“There simply wasn’t enough time taken to analyze this deal,” he said. “From what I’ve seen the only [pop-up art parks] that succeed are ones that are already in densely-populated downtown areas, or in areas that already have high pedestrian traffic.”
About the Author
