Dunwoody planners defer rezoning request for Mount Vernon Shopping Center | Dunwoody News | appenmedia.com

Staff Reporter

A few Dunwoody residents chat outside of the former Lidl grocery store July 31 after a community rezoning meeting at Mount Vernon shopping center. The owners, Branch Properties, pitched a rezoning to the Dunwoody Planning Commission Oct. 9 to attract a wider range of tenants.

DUNWOODY, Ga. — The Dunwoody Planning Commission deferred action Oct. 8 on a rezoning of the Mount Vernon Shopping Center, which would give property owners more options for tenants.

Three major corridors, Mount Vernon Road, Dunwoody Club Drive and Jett Ferry Road, create the unique triangular shape of the struggling commercial area.

At a July 31 community meeting, Branch Properties senior management ensured nearby residents that the request is for a rezoning, not a full-scale redevelopment.

Branch Properties told Appen Media Aug. 1 that the rezoning is an opportunity to collaborate with neighbors and improve the shopping center.

“We can all agree that the vacant box is detrimental to the property and the community,” the statement says. “Our objective is to attract a tenant that will positively engage the community.”

Branch Properties, a grocery-focused real estate investment firm, owns the three parcels up for rezoning at 2480 and 2526 Mount Vernon Road as well as 2495 Jett Ferry Road.

At the property owner’s July 31 meeting, a statement from the Galloway Law Group said the purpose of the rezoning is to increase the diversity of tenants in the existing buildings.

Nearby residents, speaking during the July meeting and to the Planning Commission Oct. 8, brought different perspectives to the discussion on what best anchors the shopping center.

Some nearby neighbors are uncertain of what a rezoning of the shopping center means, pushing back on any intention to add multifamily housing. One resident, John Woodward, suggested the city purchase the triangular property and turn it into something resembling Sandy Springs’ Veterans Park on a similarly shaped site.

The four residents speaking to the Planning Commission asked for more information about allowed uses, which there is significant confusion on, and requested limited business hours.

With a neighborhood shopping, or NC, classification in city code, Branch Properties is looking to change the zoning to local commercial, or C-1.

Unfortunately for the owners and existing businesses, there has been significant turnover of anchor tenants in the development’s largest storefront at 2480 Mount Vernon Road.

One prior anchor tenant, Sprouts Farmers Market, leased the space from 2014-18, replacing shuttered businesses like Harris Teeter, Ace Hardware and Hollywood Feed.

The 36,000-plus-square-foot retail space sits in the southwest corner of the triangular Mount Vernon Shopping Center and remains vacant.

Other residents, commenting before the October Planning Commission meeting, pushed back on some of the business allowed in local commercial districts.

A map shows Branch Properties’ triangular site at Mount Vernon Road, Dunwoody Club Drive and Jett Ferry Road in northeast Dunwoody. The Planning Commission deferred action on a rezoning of the parcels to its November meeting.

The applicant threw out some uses in its request, including transitional or homeless housing, recording or broadcasting studios, supplies stores, funeral homes, drive-thru facilities and any car-centric business.

The local commercial designation gives the property owners the ability to seek out potential tenants for a special events facility, indoor recreation like a tennis club, cultural exhibit or educational service, or liquor store.

Senior Planner Madalyn Smith said the Community Development Department supports Branch Properties effort to rezone the struggling commercial area, citing the city’s Comprehensive Plan.

“For example, something like indoor recreation, which is allowed in local commercial but not allowed in neighborhood shopping, is something the applicant specifically said they would like to explore at that site,” she said. “We find that activating that existing storefront would really benefit the shopping center and the surrounding uses.”

There are conditions for the rezoning, which require the applicant to eliminate some local commercial uses, improve the parking lot and remove six spots encroaching the city right-of-way.

With two failed grocery stores since 2021, Branch Properties is looking to respond to market demand for additional types of commercial uses.

Galloway attorney Laurel David represented the owners at the Oct. 8 Planning Commission meeting.

“Branch is one of the larger retail developers that provides grocery stores in the Southeast … they tried very hard to get another grocery store in there, but were not able to,” she said. “A user came to them, which we discovered was not allowed … one of them is indoor pickleball with food and drink.”

David said the retail space would fit something like Atlanta’s Painted Pickle, an entertainment driven concept combining a restaurant, bar and recreation center into one.

Residents did not entirely push back on the possibly of an entertainment venue, centered around recreation. The reality of the commercial real estate industry means that the properties will have to be rezoned before tenants get serious about signing a lease.

The Planning Commission deferred a vote on the rezoning, which would send it to the City Council, asking the property owners to meet with staff and narrow uses.

“Before the meeting, publish an updated copy of the permitted uses … in addition to definitions and examples to help folks understand what they’re reading,” Chair Thomas O’Brien said.

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