By JOSH GREEN
A mixed-use project that would bring more active uses to Avondale Estate’s award-winning downtown park is expected to move forward soon.
City officials report The Dale, a 24,000-square-foot commercial development, is poised to break ground in the fourth quarter of 2023 alongside the city’s Town Green, consuming a corner where North Avondale Road meets Lake Street.
The development team of Healey Weatherholtz Properties and Fabric Developers has designed The Dale as two adjacent, two-story buildings overlooking the park, next to a versatile new open-air Market Pavilion space at the opposite corner. The goal is to create a vibrant restaurant and retail row that would complement the greenspace.
Plans at The Dale call for at least two restaurants—one with a rooftop bar and event space overlooking the park from the second story. Just west of Avondale’s existing downtown, retail spaces would front North Avondale Road.
Other second-floor spaces would be reserved for tenants such as coworking or office spaces.
Another component of The Dale will be public restroom facilities that will be open whenever the Town Green is.
Avondale Estates officials also relayed via X/Twitter to Urbanize Atlanta that the city’s Complete Street project in the area is expected to be bid out soon, with construction tentatively scheduled for early 2024. That will reduce traffic lanes on East College Avenue/North Avondale Road from five to three; a multimodal path will also be added, stretching from Sams Crossing to past Clarendon Avenue in the heart of downtown Avondale.
In related news, the Town Green project recently won the Urban Land Institute of Atlanta Award of Excellence in the Public Realm category.
That accolade honors cities and organizations that “elevate parks and urban space developments that have been instrumental in fostering connectivity and promoting healthy, sustainable, and equitable outcomes in communities,” per Atlanta’s ULI.
Avondale Estates has also garnered recent headlines for being crowned the “Best Small Town Beer Scene” in America for the third year running, as determined by USA Today reader votes, and for being named to Opendoor’s top 15 most family friendly cities in the U.S. roundup.
See how the 2-acre park turned out—and how retail is expected to complement it—in the gallery above.
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