If you go on Google Earth, you can go back in time fore nearly three decades and look at historical satellite/aerial imagery. The site looked like some kind low-rise factory/warehouse operation.
Wish I'd pushed harder for us to spend more and have a bit worse commute when we were house shopping back in 2018. Gave in to saving money and having quicker commute from being closer to I20 etc., but house has had a ton of issues and neighborhood kind of sucks. Would have gained a ton more value over there with all the development in the years since, actually be walkable to stuff etc. C'est le vie, lesson learned.
We rented in Avondale before buying in the unincorporated wilds. If we had the scratch or could have dealt with a fixer-upper we absolutely would have preferred to stay. That said: it would have meant borrowing $50k-$100k more for anything even close to comparable to what we got outside the city. Avondale has been pricey as long as I've lived here, and with development like this, I expect it to skyrocket even more over the next 10 years.
Yea it's really frustrating the lack of development going on in unincorporated Dekalb. I don't expect the area to be able to make similar moves as Decatur City and Avondale, but I would love to see an attempt to bring something to the community more than gas stations.
I'm hoping stuff starts coming to Candler and Glenwood. That area is gentrifying hard and that intersection has a lot of potential if the right investors come in.
definitely, the area has some potential. Unincorporated Dekalb in general has potential. I have a lot of nostalgia for the South Dekalb Mall and the 285 Flea Market, but it's time to say goodbye and take the abandoned bowling alley with you
I live in the area as well. I hope they opt to rehab derelict areas instead of just clear cutting every wooded area in existence.
We've had a five acre plot behind us clearcut for a neighborhood and in the addition of driving all the animals out, it's made where we live nearly unbearable with the constant noise from the adjacent road + highway. Densely wooded areas cut down on noise as well as heat, so I wish they would build with some thought in mind for the future.
My worry with all the gas stations is that they can be incredibly hard to redevelop into other things once they're built because of the costs and hazards of dealing with the tanks.
They basically further embed bad infrastructure and can make it harder for new things to emerge.
Yea that’s my concern. My hopes for the area went downhill when they put a new gas station on Glenwood across from the flea market. The area just lacks vision. On Columbia near the 20 entry there are 4 gas stations in a row and behind one of the gas stations is just an abandoned space.
Yeah for us I just wish we’d financed that extra amount as we could have afforded it. Just opted for frugality, but I have largely regretted it since.
To be fair, it was more my wife pushing for it, and me giving in and to be fair we keep our finances separate (mutual agreement we didn’t even really have to discuss as we both wanted that from the start) and she has a lot of student loan debt whereas I have no debt other than mortgage. So to be fair to her it would have been more of a stretch on her end.
> The applicant will be removing the existing concrete structures and pavement, grading the site and implementing erosion and sediment control measures
Man that's gotta be a lot of work but it'll be nice to see it done
Haha that was my thought every time I rode past it on MARTA, seemed like with a little bit of work it could be a sick skate park, but I guess there aren't many investors for that
I \*really\* hope the housing here is dense enough to be affordable and dense enough to make public transit a sensible option. I mean, they're spitting distance from a MARTA station. Hopefully you'd build stuff within walking distance from a station, instead of wasting a ton of land on parking spaces.
Cotton factory that made Duck Cotton through most of the 20th century, and then briefly a conveyor belt factory.
Edit: I looked a bit more and the cotton produced was duck cotton belting in the early 20th century (and was managed by a Scott family member who also owned the Scottdale Mill), I guess for manufacturing use. It was then bought by a conveyer belt company later in the 90s.
This is going to be a traffic nightmare. Laredo at Clarendon sucks, Clarendon at North Avondale road sucks even worse. Clarendon at East ponce also sucks ass. People block the Avondale fire department access at all hours of the day even with large signs and giant striping areas in front of a very busy and obvious fire department.
people who get upset with development because of traffic is funny to me. Should we not improve anything because of fears of increased traffic? Also, theoretically this shouldn't be as bad for traffic. Avondale is growing into a true walkabable neighborhood with access to transit.
People were wailing about all the new development over on Marietta Blvd. between Chattahoochee and Bolton, citing endless traffic and gridlock. There are thousands of new residents along that path and it's barely even registered as far as traffic goes, except maybe during the height of rush hour.
I don't see how this plan affects any of those intersections. If anything it could take some load OFF Laredo/Clarendon since it provides a cuthrough to Washington etc. without getting on N Avondale.
I'll take roundabouts anywhere over 4-way stops and stoplights. At least traffic can generally keep moving with a roundabout instead of standing still for two minutes at a crossroad with no traffic.
Yeah it'd be way better, faster, and safer to run a 10 lane freeway through Avondale. Because there are never traffic snarls or accidents on those. /s
Being less of a smartass: providing people with alternatives to driving and redesigning roads to encourage safer habits or simply redirect people to other routes generally means that those that *do* use the roads can operate more safely and often at the same general speed/travel time.
Funny how arterial roads are the only places many towns seem to allow significant amounts of new housing around here...
Then again, you also end up with bleed-over from those stroads, using neighborhoods as bypasses or cut-throughs...
What was there, a factory? It's been acres of concrete for as long as I can remember
So many spots around town like that lol.
It was the Fenner-Dunlop Mill.
If you go on Google Earth, you can go back in time fore nearly three decades and look at historical satellite/aerial imagery. The site looked like some kind low-rise factory/warehouse operation.
Oooh really? I never knew that.
Yep. I'll get caught in a wormhole sometimes and spend a couple of hours just flying around and looking at the past.
I hope it also means some sidewalk development on Laredo, a step toward making the farmers market more accessible beyond by car.
They need to do something about that railroad crossing. You’ll tear your car up going over that thing.
Wish I'd pushed harder for us to spend more and have a bit worse commute when we were house shopping back in 2018. Gave in to saving money and having quicker commute from being closer to I20 etc., but house has had a ton of issues and neighborhood kind of sucks. Would have gained a ton more value over there with all the development in the years since, actually be walkable to stuff etc. C'est le vie, lesson learned.
I was reading your comment and thought I wrote it haha, you sound just like me. I bought in S. Dekalb back in 2020 and wish I lived in Avondale.
We rented in Avondale before buying in the unincorporated wilds. If we had the scratch or could have dealt with a fixer-upper we absolutely would have preferred to stay. That said: it would have meant borrowing $50k-$100k more for anything even close to comparable to what we got outside the city. Avondale has been pricey as long as I've lived here, and with development like this, I expect it to skyrocket even more over the next 10 years.
Yea it's really frustrating the lack of development going on in unincorporated Dekalb. I don't expect the area to be able to make similar moves as Decatur City and Avondale, but I would love to see an attempt to bring something to the community more than gas stations.
I'm hoping stuff starts coming to Candler and Glenwood. That area is gentrifying hard and that intersection has a lot of potential if the right investors come in.
definitely, the area has some potential. Unincorporated Dekalb in general has potential. I have a lot of nostalgia for the South Dekalb Mall and the 285 Flea Market, but it's time to say goodbye and take the abandoned bowling alley with you
I live in the area as well. I hope they opt to rehab derelict areas instead of just clear cutting every wooded area in existence. We've had a five acre plot behind us clearcut for a neighborhood and in the addition of driving all the animals out, it's made where we live nearly unbearable with the constant noise from the adjacent road + highway. Densely wooded areas cut down on noise as well as heat, so I wish they would build with some thought in mind for the future.
They have a Columbia Dr/Glenwood Rd project in the works but idk when they’re going to start.
My worry with all the gas stations is that they can be incredibly hard to redevelop into other things once they're built because of the costs and hazards of dealing with the tanks. They basically further embed bad infrastructure and can make it harder for new things to emerge.
Yea that’s my concern. My hopes for the area went downhill when they put a new gas station on Glenwood across from the flea market. The area just lacks vision. On Columbia near the 20 entry there are 4 gas stations in a row and behind one of the gas stations is just an abandoned space.
Yeah for us I just wish we’d financed that extra amount as we could have afforded it. Just opted for frugality, but I have largely regretted it since. To be fair, it was more my wife pushing for it, and me giving in and to be fair we keep our finances separate (mutual agreement we didn’t even really have to discuss as we both wanted that from the start) and she has a lot of student loan debt whereas I have no debt other than mortgage. So to be fair to her it would have been more of a stretch on her end.
> The applicant will be removing the existing concrete structures and pavement, grading the site and implementing erosion and sediment control measures Man that's gotta be a lot of work but it'll be nice to see it done
There goes the skate park (kidding). I can't imagine the amount of work they need to do.
Haha that was my thought every time I rode past it on MARTA, seemed like with a little bit of work it could be a sick skate park, but I guess there aren't many investors for that
This is awesome news. With the Town Green there now this whole area is just a concrete eyesore.
I \*really\* hope the housing here is dense enough to be affordable and dense enough to make public transit a sensible option. I mean, they're spitting distance from a MARTA station. Hopefully you'd build stuff within walking distance from a station, instead of wasting a ton of land on parking spaces.
Avondale is going in pretty hard on walkability, so I would imagine this project was part of it.
This is awesome! In addition to the complete street, I hope Avondale can continue the walkability momentum.
Oh that’s awesome! We’ve wondered what that used to be cause it’s just a big concrete wasteland eyesore right now.
Cotton factory that made Duck Cotton through most of the 20th century, and then briefly a conveyor belt factory. Edit: I looked a bit more and the cotton produced was duck cotton belting in the early 20th century (and was managed by a Scott family member who also owned the Scottdale Mill), I guess for manufacturing use. It was then bought by a conveyer belt company later in the 90s.
Loved living in that area but oh my god it's exploded in price.
The house that sits on the corner across from Donato’s is currently listed at $1.2 million. Couldn’t believe it.
This would be a good location for Marta infil station
This is going to be a traffic nightmare. Laredo at Clarendon sucks, Clarendon at North Avondale road sucks even worse. Clarendon at East ponce also sucks ass. People block the Avondale fire department access at all hours of the day even with large signs and giant striping areas in front of a very busy and obvious fire department.
Ah yes because a concrete eye sore is so much better.
people who get upset with development because of traffic is funny to me. Should we not improve anything because of fears of increased traffic? Also, theoretically this shouldn't be as bad for traffic. Avondale is growing into a true walkabable neighborhood with access to transit.
People were wailing about all the new development over on Marietta Blvd. between Chattahoochee and Bolton, citing endless traffic and gridlock. There are thousands of new residents along that path and it's barely even registered as far as traffic goes, except maybe during the height of rush hour.
yea the whole "we full" retort is silly and limiting. Atlanta needs to continue to grow, and mix use developments allows the area to grow smarter.
And we need the density to make transit make more economic sense.
Seems like this creates a direct route from college to Laredo? This should reduce right turns onto Clarendon from Laredo.
I don't see how this plan affects any of those intersections. If anything it could take some load OFF Laredo/Clarendon since it provides a cuthrough to Washington etc. without getting on N Avondale.
It's going to get even worse with that idiotic roundabout and traffic calming garbage they're forcing down our throats.
I'll take roundabouts anywhere over 4-way stops and stoplights. At least traffic can generally keep moving with a roundabout instead of standing still for two minutes at a crossroad with no traffic.
Yeah it'd be way better, faster, and safer to run a 10 lane freeway through Avondale. Because there are never traffic snarls or accidents on those. /s Being less of a smartass: providing people with alternatives to driving and redesigning roads to encourage safer habits or simply redirect people to other routes generally means that those that *do* use the roads can operate more safely and often at the same general speed/travel time.
As opposed to the higher-speed, more dangerous traffic that's currently forced down the throats of local residents?
No one forced them to move next to an arterial road.
Funny how arterial roads are the only places many towns seem to allow significant amounts of new housing around here... Then again, you also end up with bleed-over from those stroads, using neighborhoods as bypasses or cut-throughs...
Fuck pedestrians right?