Out with the old and in with the new in Dunwoody Village as recent demolition in the city’s “town center” readies for new development.
The Old Hickory House at 5490 Chamblee-Dunwoody Road has been torn down; over Memorial Day Weekend only the barbecue oven remained standing of the popular restaurant that shuttered its doors in 2014.
The barbecue restaurant was an iconic institution for the city, not only for eating but for meeting, according to reactions from many when it was announced the restaurant was closing. A photo of the restaurant on the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s website when Old Hickory House was closed shows a sign planted in the grass stating “Anything here but a bank.”
A bank will go up in the Old Hickory House site. However, the new bank building is a relocation of a SunTrust bank branch office. SunTrust is closing its branch at 1710 Mount Vernon Road, also in Dunwoody Village, to open in the new location.
The former Phillips 66 gas station and vacant car wash site at 5419 Chamblee-Dunwoody Road and across the street from the historic Cheek-Spruill Farmhouse is also being torn down to make way for a restaurant/retail development.
The City Council had to approve special land use permits for both developments to allow for more parking spaces than currently allowed in the Dunwoody Village master plan.