Bank plans approved at former NE Cobb movie theater site

A 1.14-acre parcel of land that once housed a movie theatre parking lot in Northeast Cobb will finally be getting developed after all.

Nearly a year after King’s Hawaiian pulled out of plans for a restaurant at Gordy Parkway and Shallowford Road, Cobb commissioners on Tuesday approved a Fifth Third Bank branch for the property.

During consent agenda voting, commissioners approved changes to the site plan to allow for drive-through service, as well as submitted renderings and drawings.

In addition, there will be a 40-foot landscape buffer at the back of the property adjoining Carl Harrison Park.

In 2023, attorneys for Stein Investment Group said such a buffer would make it difficult to develop the King’s Hawaiian restaurant, which would have had a drive-through.

Commissioner JoAnn Birrell would not budge, saying when the land was zoned for a movie theater in 1988 the 40-buffer was a key stipulation.

Reducing it, she said, last April, “would set a precedent. It was put in place for a reason.”

In May, King’s Hawaiian withdrew, and the land has sat vacant ever since. It was part of a parking lot adjoining the GTC Park 12 Cobb theater, which closed in 2018.

In 2021, Stein got rezoning to develop part of the land for a self-storage facility.

At Tuesday’s meeting, Birrell submitted several conditions Gordy Architectural Control Committee and other stipulations that were not immediately available in the public filings.

Also on Tuesday, commissioners approved via the consent agenda a dental office use at the former Mt. Bethel Church Community Center site. (4608 Lower Roswell Road).

The board heeded staff suggestions to delete the zoning category from low-rise office to limited professional services permit.

The land has been zoned residential because its owner is Mt. Bethel Church, which has been putting up selected properties for sale since departing the United Methodist Church in 2022.

Marianna Kovitch, who has a dental practice in Buckhead, hired noted zoning attorney Kevin Moore, who represented a previous applicant who withdrew from seeking an office use last year.