By Kimberly Ballard

Quaint and Historic Meets Low-Rise Luxury at Avenue Madison

By Kimberly Ballard

Downtown Madison has always been known for its small-town charm with a historic train depot and jailhouse converted into a familyowned restaurant, a southern style downtown gazebo, firmly planted bungalow homes with wraparound porches, eclectic retail shops, and the town’s favorite event space known as The Barn.

But downtown Madison is going through a rejuvenation of spirit with the grand opening of its first low-rise luxury living mixed-use community, Avenue Madison.

In fact, the 190-loft-style luxury studio, 1-, 2-, and 3-bedroom apartment community is the perfect fit for downtown Madison with its walkable village-like atmosphere and its own spattering of retail and restaurants.

According to Whitney Butler, regional manager for Sealy Management Company, who will be managing the property, Avenue Madison was built with Avenue Huntsville in mind, only a bit more spread out and with three buildings instead of just one.

“We were trying to create something similar to Huntsville with connectivity to downtown Madison and its shops, restaurants, and brewery,” said Butler. “Avenue Madison is a lot more walkable, and because of that, we believe it will entice not just Avenue Madison residents, but more Madison residents in general to come and hang out downtown, go see a concert

Ribbon Cutting of the Avenue Madison with the Madison Chamber, developers Charlie & Sasha Sealy, and Madison Mayor Paul Finley or event at the renovated Home Place Park Amphitheater, or grab a drink and dinner somewhere downtown.” As he and the Madison Chamber of Commerce shared ribbon-cutting duties, Madison Mayor Paul Finley said, “We were excited when Avenue Madison first broke ground, and we are excited now that it is open and already at over 80 percent occupancy on ribbon-cutting day. It is very much a big part of downtown Madison as it just keeps on growing.” Charlie Sealy and his wife Sasha developed the property and will be managing it as well. “That was our vision from the beginning, to get more people and residents here that will support downtown,” Sealy said. “We are very excited to be here today. You know we have been Similar to Avenue Huntsville, Avenue Madison features a central courtyard-style pool with other outdoor amenities working on Avenue Madison since 2018 if you include acquiring the land and all the planning and the upfront design. Our goal is to really have this connected with downtown … and then further connecting it with the park and the new middle school going up to the south of the football stadium that is currently under construction. “With a pedestrian environment and shops and restaurants, hopefully, this will lead to more shops and restaurants in the immediate area.”

Avenue Madison studios start at $925 to $950 a month with threebedroom apartments priced at $1,400 to $2000 per month.

The bright and airy lofts feature 9-foot to 14-foot ceilings, gourmet kitchens with stainless steel appliances and granite countertops, walk-out or Juliette-style balconies, and stained concrete and urban plank flooring.

The resort-style courtyard features a saltwater pool with inwater tanning ledges, an outdoor fire pit and lounge, bocce ball court, and a grill and dining area.

Other amenities include a pet spa and grooming station, 24/7 fitness center with Peloton bikes, airconditioned interior corridors with elevators, package acceptance and delivery, and co-working space. u

Huntsville’s New Music Streaming Platform is a Blast!

By Kimberly Ballard

You don’t need a library card to check out Blast, Huntsville’s new online platform for streaming music from local artists.

Launched August 31 by the Huntsville/Madison County Public Library as their contribution to Mayor Tommy Battle’s Music Initiative, Blast is Huntsville’s first streaming platform to feature local artists, build local music libraries and catalogs, and to engage and support local artists throughout the community.

Annie Phillips, digital services manager for the library and the project manager for Blast, said they started the platform in February and spent about a month accepting the first round of submissions from Tennessee Valley artists.

“It’s a blessing the diversity of music we have in our market,” Phillips said. “Blast feeds into the mission of the Huntsville Music Board to improve the music economy.

Artists uploaded two or more musical tracks to the Blast platform, along with album art and their profile. They can also add a PayPal link so listeners can tip them for their work.

“In addition to streaming their music, artists accepted onto the platform are paid between $200 and $300 as an honorarium,” said Phillips. “We will be featuring a new artist every week and we want to keep the buzz going as we move towards a second round of artists in February 2022.

“It is a great way to help the community discover new artists and follow musicians they have been listening to a long time.”

There will be two selection rounds per year and over 40 local musicians were accepted for the first round by a music curator team made up of community musicians and local music aficionados.

The first Blast curator team consisted of Codie Gopher, a local musician and member of the Music Board of Directors under Mayor Battle’s Music Initiative; Michael Kilpatrick, one of Huntsville’s own award-winning musicians with a 35-year career in music, radio and television; and Matt Wake, a music journalist for the Huntsville Times, Spin, Rolling Stone and Billboard. Four members of the library staff were also on the team: branch manager of the Calvary Hill library, Courtney Braggs, who is responsible for giving the Blast platform its name; Suzanne Flynn, coordinator of the HMCPL Summer Concert Series; David Lilly, librarian in the Special Collections Department; and Phillips herself.

“Blast represents a quintessential and fundamental story of what Huntsville is doing to support music and local musicians,” said Ryan Murphy, president of the Venue Group who is managing the new Huntsville Amphitheater at MidCity for the City of Huntsville.

“The Huntsville Amphitheater will provide cultural programming and support the local music scene in part by supporting the public library’s streaming platform, Blast; and by offering the more than 40 local musicians from around the Tennessee Valley opportunities to perform the platform’s music live onstage starting next spring.”

The Blast platform is easy to use. Go to https://blast.hmcpl. org, choose an artist or an album and hit ‘Play’. The tunes stream in your browser. u