Avondale Parking and Urban Design Study

 The Avondale business district is a unique, eclectic grouping of buildings located in the heart of West Ashley. It is a walkable place with small shopfronts lining the sidewalks, murals and bits of streetscape. During the Plan West Ashley public input process in 2017, Avondale was held as the standard for urban scale and walkability to which other areas should aspire.

The local businesses, on-street parking, small block sizes, and old buildings make Avondale a good urban place and a popular destination; however, these assets also present challenges when coupled with Savannah Highway a regional thoroughfare carrying 40,000 cars per day. Parking, pedestrian-bicycle safety, and regional traffic flow are Avondale’s biggest problems.

 A Stronger, More Walkable Urban Node

Seeking to implement Plan West Ashley, the Design Division has undertaken a study to determine if a parking garage is feasible. Upon initial analysis, we determined the project to be about more than parking – public spaces, intersections, parking lots, and other features of the district are in need of closer evaluation and retrofitting. We engaged property owners, neighborhood leaders, transportation officials, and other key stakeholders to develop urban design strategies for the district.

The primary strategy involves repair and realignment of two major intersections of Savannah Highway: one at Magnolia Road and the other at Avondale Avenue. Physical adjustments at these two locations accomplish the following: 1) creation of two complete intersections to improve pedestrian and bicycle connectivity, 2) creation of a single development parcel large enough for a parking garage lined with shops, and 3) development of small public spaces reclaimed from unsafe driveways and parking areas.

Urban Form Options

While a parking garage fits onto the newly-created, large block, it was important to understand trade-offs involved with inserting such a mass onto the site and consider other options that could be constructed. The image below conveys these simple trade-offs. A large mixed-use parking garage would provide substantial opportunities for mixed-use and district-wide parking. A smaller, shopfront building arrangement would provide only a small increase in district parking, but would be a more modest-scale urban form fitting into the area. The street realignment provided in either option provides significant traffic, safety, placemaking, and urban revitalization benefits.

Establishing Place

The master plan shows more than just a parking garage. Numurous plazas, crosswalks, landscaping, and human-scale urban places are envisioned in areas currently occupied by informal, unsafe and disorganized surface parking. The overall concept involves cleaning up the intersection so that traffic can flow, bikeways are connected, and people can safely and comfortably activate the public realm.