At its Aug. 12 meeting the Dunwoody Planning Commission recommended rezoning and a Special Land Use Permit (SLUP) to allow a 2.86-acre site to be redeveloped at 84 Perimeter Center East that would include retail, age-restricted apartments and a drive-through restaurant.
The plan – which has been modified at least five times over the past 15 years – in the latest iteration lessened its density and reduced the number of options for the site.
A city staff memo did not recommend the rezoning and SLUP for passage, saying that “the general concept of a mixed-use development with limited surface parking, new open space, street-front dining and retail, with a residential or hotel component is consistent with the intent of the PC-2 zoning district, but the inclusion of a drive-through is problematic.”
In the fifth version of the development, the three-story building proposed in the fourth version was divided into one two-story building and one one-story building, and the 14-story building, which developers wanted to be a hotel, age-restricted apartments, or owner-occupied condominiums, has now returned to the original approved use, age-restricted apartments.
At the meeting, attorney Den Webb, representing developer JSJ, provided more details about how the parking garage would be built in two phases. The first phase would include the smaller buildings and the first three decks of the garage, followed by the residential building and remaining parking layers of the deck.
According to a staff memo regarding the proposal, the property has undergone “a series of zoning amendments” over the past 15 years.
“In 2008, the property was rezoned from O-I to C-1 conditional to allow for the development of a hotel, a 7,050-square-foot, full-service restaurant, a 5,369-square-foot meeting space, and a 70,000 square-foot fitness club,” the memo said.
At the time, the site also received a special land use permit to increase the height of the hotel from two to 12 stories.
In 2019, the property’s site plan and zoning conditions were amended to allow a 11-story, 160-room hotel and two additional multi-story buildings containing approximately 43,140 square feet of commercial uses, including restaurants and retail, patio and rooftop terrace seating, and a multi-story parking deck.
In 2020, the applicant removed the plans for a hotel and proposed to replace it with a 14-story building with 225 units of age-restricted rental housing, which prompted a rezoning to PC-2 and several special land use permit additions.
In 2023, the developers asked for and received an extension that required a land disturbance permit to be obtained by Sept. 8, 2023.
At the August meeting, the hotel and condo options were taken off the table, leaving only the age-restricted apartments for the site. The panel also discussed another controversial component of the plan – a 4,700-square-foot quick-service restaurant with double drive-though lanes,
Webb said Portillo’s, a Chicago-based franchise known for its hot dogs, Italian beef sandwiches, chopped salad, and cheese fries, has expressed interest in the restaurant site.
He said that the drive-through, while essential to the design, would not serve as a traditional use as only 30 percent of its revenues traditionally comes from the drive-through.
After two failed motions, the panel voted 6-1 to approve the application with four conditions, including the stipulation that no more than 50 percent of the restaurant’s food revenue can be derived from its drive-through service. It will now move onto the Dunwoody City Council for consideration.
