City center

DUNWOODY

A new city center for Dunwoody

BY SAMMIE PURCELL

David Abes didn’t always plan to be in the restaurant business.

In fact, the mind behind the new, upcoming entertainment complex in Dunwoody Village started out in a very different, much less flashy lane – accounting.

“I worked in an accounting firm, and I was so bored,” Abes, who now owns Dash Hospitality Group, said.

Following that slight detour, the Dunwoody native swerved into the restaurant and hospitality business, where he’s remained for about 30 years. He served as the general manager of the Atlanta Fish Market during the 1996 Olympic Games and served as the director of operations for Here to Serve Restaurants for 14 years. He then held the role of COO for Buckhead Life Restaurant Group, but in 2018, Abes decided to go his own way and started Dash.

“I just love the energy about the restaurant business,” Abes said.

That energy is partly why he got the idea to create an entertainment complex in the center of Dunwoody Village, a shopping and retail center at 1317 Dunwoody Village Parkway. The complex will be located at an open courtyard in the village.

Abes said he was inspired by a project he consulted on in Florida, The Hub 30a in Watersound Beach.

“You look at downtown Roswell, Woodstock, Alpharetta – everybody has their city centers, and Dunwoody just didn’t have that entertainment center,” Abes said.

About two and half years ago, he presented the idea to the real estate investment company Regency Centers, which owns Dunwoody Village. When Regency reacted positively, he brought the idea to the city.

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit the United States in early 2020, Abes put the project on pause. But more than a year later, construction is already underway for the first phase of the project. The plan calls for a total transformation of the space, including four new restaurants, a bar, an outdoor stage, and enough seating and space to host concerts, festivals and the like. Abes said the first part of his vision – Bar(n), a rustic community bar serving wine, craft beer, and whiskey – is expected to be completed this October. The food menu will include light bites, like charcuterie, and on weekends, Bar(n) will also serve coffee and pastries.

“We’re excited that [Abes] is moving forward with his first restaurant,” said Dunwoody Economic Development Director Michael Starling. “The groundbreaking for Bar(n) is a big first step. We look forward to future developments – not only in the courtyard, but in other areas of the Village.”

Read the full story online at reporternewspapers.net.

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A rendering of Bar(n), a rustic community bar.

BROOKHAVEN

Foundation offers affordable housing for transplant patients and caregivers

BY BETH E. CONCEPCIÓN

Mary Evans showed Becky Merrill around the two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment in a complex that sits on the Brookhaven city line. “The kitchen has everything you need,” Evans said as she opened the cabinets.

“That’s good because my passion is cooking,” Merrill said.

Evans could have been an Airbnb host welcoming a guest, but the truth is more complicated than that: Merrill will be staying in one of seven apartments offered by the Jeffrey Campbell Evans Foundation, a foundation set up to provide affordable lodging for transplant patients and their caregivers.

Merrill’s brother Richard received a double-lung transplant May 26 at Emory Transplant Center. Merrill will be taking care of him in the foundation’s apartment for at least four weeks after he is discharged. Merrill lives in Acworth, but she and her brother need to live close to Emory while he recovers.

“You are my passion, not your brother,” Evans said to Merrill. “We know what it’s like to be a caregiver, and it’s not easy.”

Evans knows all too well. In fact, the foundation was born out of grief after the death of her son, the foundation’s namesake.

Evans’ son Jeffrey Campbell Evans was 23 when he fell ill with an unknown virus that attacked his heart. Within five days of contracting the virus, his heart had ballooned to the size of a soccer ball and lost 80 percent of its function.

“I’ll never forget passing someone in the hospital looking at X-rays,” she said. “I heard, ‘Oh my God! Whose heart is this?’ It was Jeff’s.”

Her son spent three years on the transplant list before he passed away from cardiomyopathy and its various complications.

“There’s always a hole in your heart,” Evans said. “The grieving process never ends.”

Nearly 10 years later, Evans said she was sitting at her kitchen table when she had an epiphany. She remembered what it was like when Jeff had to live no

Mary Evans (left) shows caregiver Becky Merrill all the kitchen supplies in the apartment provided by Jeffrey Campbell Evans Foundation for Transplant Housing. (Beth E. Concepción)

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