Downtown Avondale makeover

Vote likely on downtown Avondale makeover

By APRIL HUNT

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution


Avondale Estates commissioners could decide on the plan that will remake a large chunk of downtown Avondale Estates.

A developer wants to bring in condos, shops and a Publix grocery store to a four-block area just west of the central DeKalb County city’s Tudor-esque downtown.
The project has been in negotiations since March. City officials and Century Retail said a development agreement that will move the plan forward is finally ready.

“It has been give and take, but it’s done,” said City Manager Clai Brown.

Century, which plans to demolish buildings between Franklin Street and North Avondale Road, has agreed to additional landscaping and even a trellis to keep the leafy feel of the small town.

For its part, the city won’t charge the developer for Lake Street, which must be abandoned and turned into a private roadway, according to designs of the project.

City officials hope the project will inject cash into city coffers. Fees from building permits on the 28,800-square-foot Publix, which is to be built above first-floor shops, could bring in hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Because of the downturn in the economy and the delays in getting the development agreement, though, the Publix will not open in summer 2009, as had been planned.

Instead, Century officials said they expect the store to open in the last quarter of 2009.

The agreement has performance bonds to make sure the project continues, or else Century must pay the city.

Century plans to begin interior demolition as soon as the city commission approves the deal. It could take another 90 days for DeKalb County to issue demolition permits to level the buildings.