Avondale Estates' Main Street Now Runs a Full Mile
October 22, 2026
October 22, 2026
The new businesses that opened in Avondale Estates this year are spread out. Galore Market and Ford's Chicken are on East College Avenue toward the MARTA end. Last Dance is in Tudor Village. Green Coyote, The Book Bird, and Sugar Polish Nail Bar are at The Dale. The new 10-foot path down US-278, finished this spring, now links all three spots.
That changes your Saturday more than any single opening. Downtown used to mean the few blocks around the Town Green. Now it means about 1.15 miles you can walk or bike the whole way, from one end of the corridor to the other.
The city declared the North Avondale Complete Street Project finished on April 1, 2026, at the State of the City address, as Urbanize Atlanta reported. Work began in June 2024 and took about 20 months. The project cut US-278, which is North Avondale Road and East College Avenue, from five lanes to three for roughly 1.15 miles.
The space that came out of the roadway went to people on foot and on bikes. The corridor now has a 10-foot multimodal path for walkers and cyclists, plus a center median, a landscape buffer, new pedestrian and bike crossings, and upgraded traffic signals. It starts at Sams Crossing near MARTA's Avondale station, passes the city park, runs through downtown, and ends at Ashton Place.
Some longtime businesses didn't make it to the finish. Rising Son, the breakfast spot at 124 N. Avondale Road, closed at the end of March 2026, Atlanta News First reported. The businesses that opened after the barricades came down are the first group to start out on the finished street.
The MARTA end of the corridor drew a lot of questions over the summer. In July, the Avondale Estates Downtown Development Authority used its DDA Dish blog to answer one it kept hearing: was Galore Market at Sams Crossing, on the south side of East College Avenue, ever going to open? The answer was yes. The market was finishing its permits, including a state alcohol permit, and the "for lease" sign out front was for extra space Galore didn't need.
Galore held its grand-opening ribbon cutting on July 22, 2026, at 2711 E. College Ave., according to the city's event listing.
Ford's Chicken came next. In the same July post, the DDA said the restaurant was "tracking to open soon," and that its "for lease" sign was also for extra space it didn't need. It opened on August 12 at 2759 E. College Ave., and Decaturish reported customers there on the first day.
Before the road diet, this end of town was the part of US-278 you drove through on the way to somewhere else. It now has a grocery stop and a quick dinner on the same path that leads into downtown.
Last Dance moved into the former Rising Son space at 124 N. Avondale Road. It comes from veterans of The General Muir, according to Urbanize Atlanta's July roundup of downtown openings. The DDA's July post answered the "is it open yet" question about the new Tudor Village restaurant directly. "Yes!" it said, calling Last Dance "simply a splendid new add to our downtown."
So a corner that went dark in the spring is serving again. It sits right in the middle of the corridor, about where a walk from either end turns into a reason to keep going.
The weakest link in the walk has been the stretch between Tudor Village and The Dale. The DDA and the city own the land along North Avondale between the Ronald Sachs Violin shop and The Dale. That includes 84 N. Avondale, home of the Arts Alliance, 88 N. Avondale, which Peters Constructive leases, and 90 N. Avondale, which sits empty.
In July, the DDA approved money for light construction at 90 N. Avondale. The blog post gave two goals. The first is to put the parking lot to use, with directional signs, lighting, and clearer access up to the North Avondale sidewalk, "enabling better connection to both the Tudor Village and The Dale." The second is to fix up a building the DDA called "an eyesore."
That's the clearest sign that the city treats downtown as one connected stretch. A lit parking lot with a direct path to the sidewalk gives drivers a place to park once and walk the rest.
The Dale is the new commercial village facing the Town Green, and it's where half of this year's openings landed. Here's where things stood heading into November:
Green Coyote was in that same delayed group in July, and it has since opened. Whenever BarTop opens, a rooftop overlooking the Town Green will be the clearest example of what the corridor is now: a place to stay a while, where the old five-lane highway was a place to drive past.
One thing at the Town Green is on pause. The playground slide has been taped off because people kept mistaking its concrete bench seats for steps, and as steps they don't meet code. The city is designing a safer version and planning a broader playground refresh that includes patching the torn play surface.
The next big change is a block back from the main street. The Avila/Hedgewood public-private project was still working through approvals in July. The developer had closed on land for the Maple Street phase: Avondale Independent Honda on North Avondale, the lot at North Avondale and Olive Street across from the Waffle House, and the impound lots back toward Wild Heaven. The developer also deeded the city the land for a Washington Street extension, and the city transferred the money to build that road.
The DDA said the developer was still working through permits with the county and utilities, so no completion date has been announced. The city keeps updates on its Avila/Hedgewood project page. Wild Heaven Beer at 135B Maple St. sits on that edge already, and it was one of the four stops on the city's Dale Ale Trail for Avondale Ale Day on October 24.
The DDA's July post set three downtown dates for the end of the year:
These dates come from the summer announcement, so check the city's website for times and any changes closer to each event. This is the first holiday season with the finished street. Small Business Saturday is the first holiday shopping day where you can start at Galore Market by Sams Crossing, stop at Last Dance in Tudor Village, and finish at The Book Bird across from the Town Green without getting back in the car.
Thinking about what the new corridor means for your block, or whether now is the right time to list near it? Ginger Pressley follows Avondale Estates street by street and can walk you through how this year's changes show up in your home's story. Call or email Ginger to set up a listing consultation or start your search.
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