A new furniture store planned near Perimeter Mall will feature a sign announcing the city of Dunwoody.
The Dunwoody City Council on Monday approved a rezoning request that will allow for a two-story, 110,000-square-foot furniture retail showroom from the California company Living Spaces Furniture. It’s planned for 11 Ravinia Parkway.
As conditions of the rezoning, the city will require the applicant to include a crosswalk acoss Ravinia Parkway, as well as space for a Dunwoody monument sign. According to city documents, the applicant is expected to commit no more than $125,000 towards the cost of the sign, which the city can choose to install in conjunction with the furniture store or at a later date.
Councilmember Tom Lambert requested that the council amend the conditions to also allow for landscaping around the sign. Councilmember Stacey Harris asked that the sign and the area surrounding it be taken care of as well.
“If this thing is actually going to be built, it is a gateway to our city,” Harris said. “Please make it something that we’re going to be proud of that is going to be good not only for next year, but for 50 years down the road.”
The council previously saw the rezoning request at a Jan. 11 meeting, where council members expressed concern over trees and a curb cut in the site plan. During that meeting, city staff recommended that the curb cut be removed from the site plan in order to protect a stretch of mature, large oak trees along Ravinia Parkway. However, at the Feb. 14 meeting, city staff said that the applicant provided a sight distance study that demonstrated the necessity of the curb cut for truck deliveries.
“Essentially, requiring the truck to pull forward and back into the loading dock leads to a conflict with drivers along Ravinia,” said Senior Planner Madalyn Smith. “Due to the curve of the road and the trees, the drivers’ sight of the truck is obstructed.”
Smith also said that since the last meeting, the applicant had amended the site plan to slightly shift the building closer to the property line along Ashford Dunwoody Road, also helping to protect the trees along Ravinia Parkway.
The empty lot at the corner of Ravinia Parkway and Ashford Dunwoody Road was previously slated to hold a 156-key hotel, 41,400 square feet of retail or restaurant space, and a three-level parking deck, according to city documents. The council approved that rezoning in 2019, conditional to the construction of the hotel. Mayor Lynn Deutsch said she hoped she didn’t see this property come back for another rezoning in the future.
“We hope this is the last time we see this property,” Deutsch said. “This time’s the charm.”
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