Ashwood Restaurant Park, a three tenant center along Ashford Dunwoody Road near Perimeter Mall in Dunwoody, could be redeveloped in the coming months, anchored by a new grocery store. An affiliate of Atlanta-based Branch Properties, LLC filed plans in Dunwoody to redevelop the 10 acre property it owns across Ashford Dunwoody Road from Perimeter Village, a Weingarten Realty-owned Walmart Supercenter-anchored center. The project would add new retail and restaurant space, improve the streetscape, and introduce new sidewalks and greenspace, according to the plans.
A 6,800 square foot P.F. Chang's is the only restaurant on the property in business cuurently, following the 2017 closure of Brio Tuscan Grille and the New Years Day 2018 closure of McCormick & Schmick's. Branch is likely planning to buy out the P.F. Chang's lease to allow for the redevelopment to proceed, if approved. Branch may also have space set aside for them in the new development, should they wish to be part of it.
DeKalb County tax records indicate the existing center was developed in 1998.
The grocery store, as shown in the proposed siteplan, would be 25,440 square feet. Plans show 35,400 square feet of additional restaurant and retail space, along with a convenience store and bank. The redevelopment would more than double the amount of leaseable square footage on the property.
The grocery store, unnamed on the siteplan, could be a Publix GreenWise, one of the Florida-based grocer's Whole Foods-like markets. The first Atlanta area GreenWise is set to anchor a new Fuqua Development project in East Cobb and could open as soon as late 2019. When officially confirming the East Cobb store in September, a Publix release said "The company continues to look for additional GreenWise Market locations throughout its operating area."
The size of the grocery anchor matches with the targeted size for new GreenWise stores and Publix operates two nearby locations, one in Dunwoody Hall on Chamblee Dunwoody Road, and another in Publix at Perimeter, a center at the corner of Hammond Drive and Peachtree Dunwoody Road. Publix is reportedly in favor of opening GreenWise stores in close proximity of existing stores. The store could serve as replacement for former shoppers of nearby Sprouts Farmers Market which closed December 23.
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Real estate sources tell ToNeTo Atlanta that the roughly 5,400 square foot, sixteen pump convenience store and fuel center is likely to be a QuikTrip. Fuel stores are incredibly rare in the area, with the only one in the immediate vicinity being a 20 pump Exxon station across from Perimeter Mall along Ashford Dunwoody Road.
As far as banking possibilities, Regions is a likely candidate for the 2,800 square foot bank site given their recent growth spurt in metro Atlanta, including new branches in North Decatur Square near Decatur and on Johnson Ferry Road in East Cobb, among other branches.
A large retention pond on the property, a popular amenity for restaurant patrons electing to sit on a patio, would be filled in to allow for parking and retail buildings along Ashford-Dunwoody, according to the siteplan.
The project is set to go before Dunwoody’s Zoning Board of Appeals Thursday, February 7.
Branch Properties revived plans in 2017 to redevelop a freestanding former bank nearby, but as of this fall, real estate sources indicate the plan is again dead. The property, 84 Perimeter Center East, would have been redeveloped into an approximately 200 room, twelve story hotel as well as about 50,000 square feet of retail & restaurant space between two buildings.
Are you in favor of the proposed redevelopment? Do you think the area can handle all that is being proposed? What restaurants or retailers would you like to see open in the redevelopment if it gets approved?
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