Two major additions to downtown Woodstock will be celebrated this Thursday, signaling progress of the city’s move toward a grid street system and an increased variety of housing options in the downtown area.

The unveiling for Woodstock West by Walton, which will include a 300-unit apartment complex and future retail stores, will be from 4 to 7 p.m. at 735 Market Street with a ribbon-cutting at 5:30 p.m.

The ribbon-cutting for Market Street, one of five streets in the surrounding grid system, will be by the city at 6 p.m.

The city paid $2 million of the $3.3 million cost to build the streets, sidewalks, on-street parking, streetlights and landscaping.

Walton Woodstock will pay the remaining $1.3 million and also will donate an additional $1 million worth of right-of-way to the city, bringing the total value of the project to $4.3 million.

City Manager Jeff Moon said the grid street system has been a major city priority since before he began his role with the city in 2008. The plans for a navigable street system are outlined in the city’s Livable Centers Initiative plan, funded through a grant from the Atlanta Regional Commission.

“Our long-range plan is to create a series of grid streets that run parallel to Main (Street) and (Interstate) 575, and, in the long range, connect Highway 92 to the north through downtown,” Moon said Friday.

Moon said Market Street, which runs between Mill Street and Dupree Road, is the longest of the streets and was selected for the ribbon cutting as a symbolic representation for the five newly-constructed streets.

In September 2011, the Woodstock City Council approved a purchase agreement with Walton Woodstock LLC to allow the city to purchase 6.95 acres of grid streets to be constructed by Walton Woodstock.