Groundwork for massive Avondale Estates project coming together

Plans are progressing for a residential project with scale large enough to change the functionality, complexity, and vibrancy of a full district like few others around ITP Atlanta right now. 

Atlanta-based Avila Real Estate and veteran metro homebuilders Hedgewood Homes unveiled plans in October for a two-part, $350-million venture that would qualify as transformative for blocks near and adjacent to Avondale Estates’ historic Tudor village, which has seen a commercial growth spurt as a finished Complete Streets overhaul and other initiatives lend more walkable vibes. 

According to City of Avondale Estates officials, Avila and Hedgewood’s plans now call for 810 rental and for-sale housing units total—up more than 20 units from initial 2025 projections. 

It’ll be spread across roughly 18 acres total, in two sections located about three blocks apart.

The development is characterized as public-private, in that $7.2 million in public funding (most of it sourced from the city’s Tax Allocation District) will go toward infrastructure improvements and public-space upgrades around both sites. Changes will include an extended Washington Street as part of a reconnected and more walkable street grid, per the city. 

According to a recent development update from Dave Deiters, chair of the Avondale Estates Downtown Development Authority, the development team is currently navigating the “permitting and approval process with the county and various utilities” that’s required for the “complex project.” 

Since the project’s unveiling, developers have closed on the purchase of land required for the smaller Maple Street section (roughly 5 acres) west of the city’s Tudor village and The Dale project. It will neighbor the Olive + Pine food hall and Wild Heaven’s longstanding brewery. 

The Maple Street section now calls for 300 apartments and 38 “patio homes” that would be for sale, along with the Washington Street extension to improve east-west connectivity in the former industrial district. 

The bigger piece of the puzzle is set for Oak Street, immediately north of Avondale’s Town Green and new The Dale commercial buildings. 

Spanning about 13 acres with quick connectivity to a popular PATH Trail, the former industrial warehouse site would see 400 apartments and 72 for-sale homes take shape, alongside more greenspace and a stormwater detention park. 

Avila has owned that sprawling vacant site—where groundwork has been underway for months—since 2014. 

For visitors and residents, an added bonus of the Oak Street section calls for burying overhead power lines near the 2-acre, award-winning Town Green, which has emerged as a social hub since opening four years ago. 

As of now, the project’s official groundbreaking is forecasted to come May 1 next year. 

According to a city recap, the full development is expected to take five years to build, though “market forces” will determine the pace of construction. 

Generally, the outlook calls for Hedgewood to start building its for-sale homes at the Maple Street portion first. 

Meanwhile Avila, which is handling apartment development, will begin by constructing its stormwater pond and then the extended street. Plans call for erecting the first apartment building on the Oak Street site, per the city. 

Avila is the firm behind The Kirkwood and newer Grant Park apartments fronting the Beltline's recently finished Southside Trail. 

Hedgewood specializes in building townhomes and single-family projects with a distinctive European bent. Recent Hedgewood builds across Atlanta have claimed parking lots and underused land in places such as Lindridge-Martin Manor, Summerhill, and Lake Claire. The company is also behind the new luxury Delmont project in Buckhead’s Garden Hills. 

Find more context and images for Avondale Estates' future in the gallery above.

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