Dunwoody Planning Commission approves zoning change for Mount Vernon Shopping Center

Dunwoody’s Planning Commission recommended a zoning change, with several conditions, for a nearly empty shopping center in Dunwoody to allow for a greater variety of uses. 

Branch representatives say they want to change the Mount Vernon Shopping Center’s zoning designation from Neighborhood Shopping to C-1 to allow for a greater diversity of uses beyond a grocery store, which has seen a revolving door of failed retail ventures in the last 10 years.

The planning commission discussed the rezoning at its October meeting, but deferred it after hearing complaints about the variety of uses that a C-1 designation could bring to the center. 

At the Nov. 20 meeting, Dunwoody Senior Planner Madalyn Smith said Branch has agreed to restrict several of the allowed C-1 uses, including capping the square footage for schools and special event facilities to 5,000. 

Attorney Laurel David of Galloway Law Group, representing the owners, said Branch also proposed to mandate closing hours to 11 p.m. from Monday through Thursday and midnight on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. 

However, several speakers, including former Dunwoody Mayor Dennis Shortal, commented that the proposed closing hours are “probably a little late.”

The planning commission took into consideration those statements and unanimously passed the zoning change to C-1, with the mandate that the yet-to-be-determined business would close at 11 p.m. on Sunday.

After the meeting, Branch Partner and Chairman Nick Telesca said the company is pleased with the ruling.

“I appreciate that the board considered it thoroughly and made a rational decision,” Telesca said. “They made an effort to see both sides.”

Telesca said the closure time restrictions may be a factor as the company seeks to find a suitable tenant for the 35,000-square foot space that formerly housed several grocery stores. 

Discussion at the November meeting was a sharp contrast to a contentious neighborhood meeting in late July during which a majority of  attendees opposed most of the ideas proposed by its owners. 

Telesca said at the July meeting that the company has had interest from “eater-tainment” or lifestyle-focused uses like food halls, pickleball courts or entertainment arcades like PuttShack or Main Event, which would have a sporting element to them as well as food and alcohol options. 

Branch officials said the possibility of putting in yet another grocery store has been shut down by all of the companies they have approached.

The February closing of Lidl is the fourth time that the anchor tenant in the Mount Vernon Shopping Center has been shuttered in the last 10 years. It was once a Harris Teeter, then an Ace Hardware, followed by a Sprouts Grocery before its three-year stint as a Lidl. 

Sprouts was open from 2014-2018 before disappointing sales and the looming end of the five-year lease prompted its closure. Lidl opened in August 2020 to great fanfare, but regular shoppers said they noticed that the store’s business had never been robust nor well-staffed.

The zoning change recommendation will now move to the Dunwoody City Council, which will hold a public hearing at its Dec. 9 meeting.