A proposed Portillo's is seemingly not happening in Dunwoody. A representative for the group behind the redevelopment notified the City of Dunwoody that they were withdrawing their application that sought to pave the way for the restaurant to move forward.
A representative for JSJ Perimeter LLC informed the City on February 10th saying:
"Please let this letter serve as formal notice that JSJ Perimeter, LLC is withdrawing its application for a Special Land Use Permit, identified as SLUP 25-04 and Major Modification RZ 25-05."
The representative made no mention of the reasoning behind the withdrawal or what plans the group may have for the subject portion of the property in place of the quick-serve restaurant.
"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 (Z-08-14825) 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 City of Dunwoody states.
A 2019 proposal would have included a 150-key boutique property from Hilton Hotels as well as 30,000 square feet of retail space.
JSJ Perimeter, LLC, a holding company created in December 2018 by John DiGiovanni of Inland Atlantic Development Corporation, currently owns the property.
Then in its fifth iteration, JSJ Perimeter, LLC had requested this past August a modification of the zoning and special land use permit conditions (RZ 23-02 & SLUP 23-03), to modify existing zoning conditions, update the site plan, and get a new special land use permit for a drive-through (restaurant) approved.
The roughly 2.9 acre property was for many years home to various banks, but has sat neglected and idle for more than ten years, save for the time it briefly "reopened" in 2016 for the filming of the hit movie "Baby Driver."
A site plan for the project indicated that Portillo's would have occupied a roughly 4,800 square foot building along Ashford Dunwoody Road with a patio and double drive-thru lanes. The development was also to include a two-story, roughly 10,600 square foot commercial building beside the restaurant with age-restricted apartments and an accompanying parking garage constructed in the rear of the property along Perimeter Center East.
Drive-thrus have been a hot button for many municipalities. Raising Cane's and Zaxby's were both looking to redevelop former bank properties in Dunwoody with the former having been working on getting its project approved for more than two years, and the latter for more than a year, before both were turned down in recent months.
A McDonald's at 4540 Ashford Dunwoody Road occupies a onetime bank property and is currently the only drive-thru along Ashford Dunwoody Road in the vicinity of Perimeter Mall.
As for Portillo's, the Chicago-based company opened their first ever Atlanta area location in November along Barrett Parkway in Kennesaw. The company, which last year admitted "missteps" in its Texas rollout, had a lot riding on its Atlanta market debut.
The Kennesaw location opened to tremendous lines and fanfare and has amassed more than 750 reviews on Google, but has only a 4.3/5 star rating overall.
The company has seen its stock slide more than 80 percent (now trading at under six bucks) over the past five years, and its entry into new markets has not gone as it (or Wall Street) would like.
On February 11, Brett Patterson was named President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Portillo's, effective Monday, February 23. Previous chief executive Michael Osanloo stepped down from his position after seven years this past September amidst overall challenges and changes at the chain.
In addition to Kennesaw, the company had locations in development in Cumming near the Collection at Forsyth and in Buford near the Mall of Georgia, but ToNeTo Atlanta has learned the chain does not intend to move forward with its location in Cumming.
What are your thoughts on the proposed redevelopment? Are you excited at the prospect of more Portillo's in metro Atlanta? If approved, what kind of retail would you like to see come to the project?
Please share your thoughts below.
Zaxby's and Raising Cane's both recently saw their locations rejected due to concerns over their locations and the drive-thru traffic they would generate, among other things.
35 comments:
This makes me sad. Would have loved a Portillo’s that’s (nearly) ITP.
Personally, I love seeing these companies failing now. PE ruins everything good!
Put it in the new food court in the mall.
I was excited that a real Chicago Italian Beef and Hot Dog restaurant would FINALLY arrive in the Atlanta area and in my town of Dunwoody. But it was not to be. I am sad that the fried chicken, barbeque palate of many of my neighbors will be deprived of the opportunity to experience the tastebud enlivened flavors that are the original Italian Beef sandwich. But maybe someday . . .
dunwoody hates progress
I don't think that's it. I think their Marietta location isn't drawing the crowds they had hoped and it's causing them to rethink their expansion.
Waffle House!!
Is fast food really progress?
Have to find something negative and you pick Google Reviews?? 4.3 out of 5 is good in this world of not being able to satisfy every single person, plus people like complaining on reviews while many who don’t just move on with their lives and don’t worry about the people who complain about every single thing in their lives to make themselves feel better.
You've always got Skip's in Avondale Estates, folks!
not super close to Dunwoody but I'm guessing you've never been to Skip's?
Drive throughs are a plague. Good for Dunwoody for saying no.
The Portillo's in Kennesaw is awful. The parking sucks, the dining room is very small and the food itself gave me food poisoning and gave me intensive diarrhea for days and days. It was the Italian Beef that did it. I don't think they cooked it properly enough
Would prefer an Indian restaurant or Irish pub
It's not THAT long a drive to Kennesaw, for Pete's sake! Been to that Portillo's - and it is GREAT. Give it a try. :)
"PE"?, please explain.
Agreed, drive throughs suck, but fat-assed, lazy citizens will never give them up.
Was not impressed with the food and the price was ridiculous on what we bought. Don't plan on going back.
Former long term Chicago, now and a Sandy Springs/ Atlanta area resident. We really like Portillos and finally trekked out to Kennesaw this past weekend. It was good but not worth going out of our way for. Especially when they don't carry the fish that is in the menu at other locations. We would have gone more often closer to home.
Imagine driving 45 minutes to go to a fast food restaurant.
Evidently in Atlanta it is.
One of my Chicago favorites I love that I don’t have to wait to go to Chicago for a piece of it. Some of you all are just miserable. You hate any kind of growth. No I’m not big fat or lazy. I’m a business owner myself. Enjoy life and quit sweating the small stuff. I’m a Sandy Spring resident and yes I will drive to Kennesaw again and I do hope they expand to Dunwoody 🥰
Then go back to Chicago with the rest of your annoying fellow transplants. You’re a “business owner” cool, so are lots of others here. Business owners usually prefer supporting other independent businesses, not big chains. Enjoy your chain slop.
there are atbleast 5 ind8an restaurants right there
Make them walk-thrus and take away all cars. Everyone can walk everywhere. That’ll teach em!
As a transplanted Chicagoan I drive from Newnan to Kennesaw for Portillo's. The parking sucks because it's always packed and the food is excellent.
There is massive excitement about the Cumming location, people are way more excited about the Portillos opening than they are about the Whole Foods opening right next to it. I sure hope that this turns out to not be true or if so I really hope the new CEO Brett Patterson will reconsider this decision In the same intersection is one of the top Chick-fil-a’s in North GA and right across the street is the #1 revenue Starbucks in the whole state. They’d be walking away from what would easily become one of their top 10 locations outside of Chicago in a fast growing south Forsyth county, and it would literally be right off of the 400 (exit 13), so it’s easy access for travelers heading North or going to Lake Lanier.
"As previously reported, Portillo’s has changed course to slow down its growth strategy to avoid cannibalization. During the call, interim CEO and chairman Mike Miles said that the company has paused development momentum to focus on strengthening unit economics and improving brand awareness, as newer regions like Texas grapple with low AUVs."
From https://www.nrn.com/fast-casual/portillo-s-faces-continued-fallout-from-growing-too-quickly-in-new-markets so this isn't Dunwoody saying no, this is Portillo's pulling back in general.
💯
Sloppy Joes! Awesome
If you like fast food, you MUST be fat and lazy and “undesirable” that’s what everyone here says, it must be true. Fat and lazy.
Are there a lot of fat people in Cumming? Maybe you're right if that is the case.
Don’t forget lazy. Fast food lovers are fat and lazy. I learned that here on this blog!
Means private equity. Warren Buffett’s firm owns a majority interest, though he’s not exactly famous for ruining anything.
Sure, I love Skip’s. I even remember when they experimented with a couple downtown locations back in the day. But Avondale is a haul for many. Dog Days did a very nice job in Peachtree Corners, but they closed a few months back.
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