A number of readers reached out with questions about the upcoming development at 4453 Ashford Dunwoody Road across from Perimeter Mall in Dunwoody. The property, most recently home to the DeKalb County North police precinct, has been vacant since the precinct closed in the fall of 2013.
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| The new Chase will likely look like this |
A Pollo Tropical restaurant was proposed on the property in late 2015, but by early 2016 the restaurant had abandoned their plans. Area residents were primarily opposed to the restaurant on the basis that it would have a drive-thru. It may be for the best that the restaurant did not get built, as Pollo Tropical has closed four metro Atlanta restaurants in the past year as it struggles to get a foothold in the market.
After extensive research, ToNeTo Atlanta can now confirm that a new Chase Bank will replace the police precinct.
Hines, a real estate firm with global headquarters in Houston, Texas and regional headquarters in Ravinia in Dunwoody, owns the roughly one acre parcel. Hines "gifted" the property to DeKalb County in 1985, but it reverted back to the real estate firm once the precinct closed, per the terms of the original agreement.
New York City-based Chase will join existing branches of Bank of America, Wells Fargo and Fidelity Bank on Ashford Dunwoody across from Perimeter Mall.
ToNeTo Atlanta reported in June that a former bank property adjacent to the Chase Bank is being redeveloped into 50,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space and a 200 room hotel. Additionally, the nearby McDonald's at the corner of Perimeter Center West and Ashford Dunwoody Road, was also former bank property.
In recent years, Chase has added a number of new branches to metro Atlanta including, but not limited to, those on North Druid Hills in Toco Hills, on Roswell Road in Sandy Springs, and on Peachtree Boulevard in Chamblee.
The closest Chase Bank to the upcoming Perimeter area branch is on Chamblee-Dunwoody Road in Dunwoody Village, about 2 miles away.
Despite shifts in bank usage by millennials and others, major financial institutions continue to build new branches across metro Atlanta.
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| Rendering of the "Ravinia Row" development |
In addition to the Chase Bank property, Hines also has plans for a 40,000 square foot restaurant heavy development at nearby 4 Ravinia Drive. Located at the northeast corner of Ashford-Dunwoody Road and I-285, "Ravinia Row," would include at least four restaurants, according to a rendering for the project. Ravinia Row, which has been "in the works" for years, is said to be attracting interest from a number of restaurateurs, among them Barteca, and their Barcelona and Bartaco restaurant concepts. There are currently three Bartaco and two Barcelona restaurants in metro Atlanta. Barteca CEO Jeff Carcara recently toldNation's Restaurant News that the company is poised for growth with the two brands, but Bartaco will be expand more rapidly. "The brand has the potential to reach a couple hundred units," he said.
Are you surprised that the former police station is becoming a bank? Has you bank usage decreased in recent years? What tenants would you like to see open in Ravinia Row?
Please share your thoughts below.