I will be staying later this week in the AC Hotel Avenida de America.
Anyone know anything about this area? I haven't been able to find much except that it seems to be close to the major highway.

I didn't know of any hotels in that area. There's an Intercambiador there and Continental-Auto's main Madrid bus station. It's convenient to aeropuerto de Barajas by MetroMadrid or by the YellowBus that used to stop there.
If you're driving: coming east from Paseo de la Castellana on c/Maria de Molina becomes Avda de America at c/Principe de Vergara and then becomes Autopista de Barajas a little further out. It's a very busy area, traffic-wise.

You're right about the highway. As Eddie explained, this is what we'd call a very well 'comunicado'(well connected?) little neighborhood; but apart from that; the, at least in my opinion, much nicer and lively Salamanca district is at short walking distance from the 'intercambiador'. There are good restaurants, bars, the best shops,....and Madrid's main park, El Retiro, is also located in the 'barrio Salamanca'.
The AC hotels are quite nice .
Enjoy!

http://www.ac-hoteles.com/avenida3.htm#
It looks not to be in a beautiful place, but very well conected

This time around we chose to go for a nicer hotel, rather than being directly in the action. I've heard good things about this hotel Chain. There is a map on the link listed in the previous response. So if that helps anyone give me info, I'd appreciate it.
A travel website I read said there were restaurants nearby.

That's why I didn't know about it: It's not on Avda de America; it's on c/de Cartagena, several blocks off Avda de America and its Intercambiador. As for 'restaurants nearby,' they always say that. I'm sure there are plenty that serve the midday meal but you may have to go over to c/Goya or c/Alcala for your evening meal. We had a decent lunch at the Cafeteria in the Bus Station.

You'll be fine there, that's a nice pocket just across the street (more or less) from Diego de León. Just hop on the Circular bus (on Francisco Silvela) if you want to get to Goya shopping area or the Retiro as Pim suggested (or you can walk). I used to live in Manuel Becerra (just down Cartagena away from Avenida de América) and I think it's a great area. Since you've been to Madrid before, it will give you a different perspective not staying directly in the center. My parents used to stay at the NH by Ventas when I lived in the area and they always had a pleasant stay. Have you looked into using Bancotel? I'm not sure if they take them there (you can check the website) but that's what my folks would always use and it was a steal at two checks a night!

Well, I had a great trip. As I said in another post, the hotel was fantastic.
The neighborhood was just as everyone said, not a lot of attractions nearby, but well connected. There was a Workcenter store down the street, so it was nice to have access to everything they had.
There were a lot of the typical bars and cafes also nearby, so that was helpful.