"Anything we could provide now would be a guess," Ellen Powell, the city's director of creative, marketing and communications, told Decaturish this summer when asked when construction would begin on Avondale Estates' largest redevelopment. "It's really premature to give any dates."
If you are a buyer comparing Avondale Estates with nearby DeKalb options, that quote is the most useful fact about the project. The headline number is large. The Avila Real Estate and Hedgewood Homes plan now calls for 810 units across roughly 18 acres. But only a small share of those units can be bought. None has a published price, and the first homes depend on permits that were still under review at the latest update. For the next several years, buying in Avondale Estates will mostly mean buying a home that already stands.
Counting the Units You Can Actually Buy
The project sits on two sites about three blocks apart. The split between apartments and for-sale homes looks like this in the plan Urbanize Atlanta reported in July 2026:
| Site | Approx. size | Apartments | For-sale homes | Builder starting first |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maple Street, west of the Tudor Village near Wild Heaven and Olive + Pine | About 5 acres | 300 | 38 patio homes | Hedgewood, for-sale homes |
| Oak Street, just north of the Town Green and The Dale | About 13 acres | 400 | 72 | Avila, stormwater pond, street, then first apartment building |
| Total | About 18 acres | 700 | 110 |
That works out to about one unit in seven offered for sale. The Maple Street land is no abstraction. In his July 13, 2026 update, Downtown Development Authority chair Dave Deiters said the developers had closed on the parcels that include Avondale Independent Honda on N. Avondale Road, the lot at N. Avondale and Olive Street across from the Waffle House, and the impound lots back toward Wild Heaven. Avila has owned the Oak Street warehouse site since 2014.
Construction is sequenced so the for-sale homes come first. Hedgewood is expected to start with homes on the Maple Street portion. Avila will build its stormwater pond and the extended street before putting up the first Oak Street apartment building. That helps buyers. It also means the 38 Maple Street patio homes are the first test of whether new for-sale construction in downtown Avondale Estates actually gets built.
Wells Street Already Showed How a For-Sale Plan Can Change
There is a recent local example of a for-sale plan becoming something else. Henley, at 3039 Wells Street near the city's eastern border, was planned by Toll Brothers as for-sale townhomes starting in the high $500,000s. When it was announced, Urbanize noted that no other new-construction, for-sale townhomes were on the market in Avondale Estates or in nearby Lake Claire and East Lake.
Toll Brothers sold the property in 2023 after site work had begun. The community Cushman & Wakefield delivered is 33 build-to-rent townhomes along a curve of the Stone Mountain Trail. When Urbanize covered the lease-up in April 2025, three- and four-bedroom plans of 2,048 to 2,109 square feet listed from $3,050 to $3,250 a month.
Henley does not predict what Hedgewood will do. It shows that in this city, a site plan with for-sale townhomes is a plan and not a promise. The economics that decide what gets built can shift between groundbreaking and delivery. The city's own project summary says the Avila/Hedgewood buildout is expected to take five years, with "market forces" setting the pace.
Why the City Is Backing Density Anyway
If apartments add so little to the for-sale market, why has the city put public money behind this project? The answer is in how Avondale Estates pays for downtown.
The city created its Tax Allocation District in 2007. It captures city and DeKalb County property-tax revenue above the 2007 base and reinvests it in projects inside the district. The Downtown Development Authority manages that money, which is restricted to infrastructure inside the district. For this project, the DDA pledged $5 million in TAD funds within a $7.2 million city and DDA package. It goes to public works such as the Washington Street extension, a stormwater park and a reconnected street grid, not to private buildings. City officials have put total streets and public infrastructure for the project at about $25 million, against roughly $350 million in private investment.
The structure rewards taxable value downtown. Hundreds of new apartments on former warehouse and dealership land add that value faster than a small number of townhomes would. The city's July 8, 2026 budget amendment records $490,000 in current-year TAD revenue.
Those mechanics also show up in the city's tax rate. At a June 30, 2026 special called meeting, the new finance director pointed to a significant increase in commercial property values. City Manager Patrick Bryant noted that TAD revenues are already committed to infrastructure and that stronger collections could retire the TAD sooner. The board then voted 4 to 1 to set the 2026 millage rate at 9.3 mills, down from the tentative 9.55. Mayor Jonathan Elmore cited commercial tax base growth as one reason. The same meeting set the residential sanitation fee at $397 a year, up $9, and kept the stormwater fee at $180. The 2025 rate had been 10.05 mills.
Your actual tax bill depends on your assessment and on county and school levies, so treat the millage history as context, not a forecast. Still, it explains the city's position. Downtown growth is part of how the budget works, and the for-sale share of that growth is a smaller concern in that calculation.
Where the Project Stands as of Early October 2026
The approvals so far set up the land. They do not yet put homes on it.
- December 3, 2025. Commissioners approved, with conditions, variance resolutions for both sites. The developers had sought 40 variances covering issues such as building height, stream buffers, street layout and open space.
- June 10, 2026. The City Commission approved preliminary subdivision plats for Oak Street and Maple Street. Those plats set streets and lots but do not authorize construction or approve building designs. Commissioner Lyda Steadman voted no, citing the number of variances and the pace of the process.
- Late July 2026. The land disturbance permit was still under review by county and state environmental agencies, and building permit construction documents had not been submitted. Road and stormwater work is the next visible milestone.
- August through September 2026. City and DDA agendas took up a Center Street stormwater agreement, but they show no new permit decision, no change in unit count and no home prices.
Urbanize reported in July that groundbreaking was forecast for May 1, 2027. Given the city's own caution about dates, a buyer should treat that as a target.
What This Means If You Are Buying Here
If you want to own a home in Avondale Estates in 2026 or 2027, you are shopping the existing housing stock. Much of that stock sits in the city's Historic District. The According to the City of Avondale Estates, most exterior construction or changes in the Historic District go through Historic Preservation Commission review, and you need a Certificate of Appropriateness and a permit before work begins. If your plans for a house include an addition, new windows or a reworked porch, factor that review into your timeline and budget before you write an offer, not after closing.
No public dataset we could rely on publishes current sale figures for the city alone. The nearest current benchmark is countywide. Georgia MLS reports that in September 2026, DeKalb County had 533 residential sales at a median price of $360,500. That median was up 3.6% from September 2025, while closed sales were down 21.7%. That describes the county, not Avondale Estates. Its use here is directional: fewer homes are trading hands while prices hold firm. In a small city whose for-sale pipeline is still waiting on permits, that pattern makes each existing listing more important.
The downtown those future residents will share is already filling in. Last Dance has opened in the Tudor Village. The Book Bird, a bookstore, coffee shop and wine bar, is operating at The Dale. As of July, Ophelia Tavern, Green Coyote and the BarTop rooftop bar were working through county inspections. Avondale Ale Day is on the downtown calendar for October 24.
FAQ
When will the new for-sale homes in downtown Avondale Estates go on sale? No date has been set. Hedgewood is expected to build Maple Street homes first. The city said in July that it was too early to give a construction timeline, and Urbanize reported a forecast groundbreaking of May 1, 2027.
How much will the Hedgewood homes cost? No price range has been published in city records or local news coverage.
How many of the 810 units will be for sale? 110 under the current plan: 38 patio homes at Maple Street and 72 homes at Oak Street. The other 700 are apartments.
Does TAD money pay for the private buildings? No. The DDA's pledge covers public infrastructure such as streets, stormwater and utilities.
If you are weighing whether to buy an existing Avondale Estates home now or wait for the downtown homes to be priced, Susan Powell and the Good Living Real Estate team can walk you through recent comparable sales and what Historic District review could mean for your plans. If you already own here and want to know how your home compares with a market that has few new homes coming, start with a free home valuation.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.
