Avondale Estates recently had the first of its scheduled monthly meetings with Avila Real Estate, the developer owning 15 acres near downtown.
According to Mayor Jonathan Elmore, Avila presented an informal site plan to several members of the city’s staff, commission and downtown development authority. The sketch was for the 13 acres north of downtown, former home of the old Fenner Dunlop Mill, now a concrete expanse.
The drawing included about 400 to 500 block-style apartments and 60 townhomes off Laredo Drive along with a parking deck. Plans also call for unspecified retail on Franklin Street along the southern portion of the development, and a retention pond. The apartments buildings would probably be four to six stories, Elmore said.
He estimates the project would add roughly 1,500 to the city’s population.
“All of this is very tentative,” Elmore said. “We are trying to build a relationship with them and a team approach. Right now we feel it’s going well. But they are not ready yet to go public with their plans.”
With these monthly meetings Avondale Estates and Avila hope to coordinate their various projects, with the city planning to develop the four acres it owns just south of the mill site.
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