By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
Ashley Furniture store plans to soon furnish a store here in Bowling Green.
On Wednesday evening, the city’s Zoning Board of Appeals approved a variance request from the home furnishings store. Ashley Furniture applied for variance to put up a larger sign than permitted at 816 S. Main St., in the same strip of stores as Big Lots and Subway. The location was formerly a Hallmark store.
“They just want a larger sign to be seen from the road,” said Bowling Green Planning Director Heather Sayler.
Members of the Zoning Board of Appeals questioned Ashley Furniture representatives about the hardship that the sign restrictions placed on the company.
Company officials said the larger sign would be proportionate to the 24,000 square foot store, and would be able to be seen from the road, Sayler said. The board agreed to allow the variance.
Company officials reported the furniture store may be open by November.
Ashley Furniture has had a distribution center in Bowling Green since 2006. The warehouse, located in Bellard Business Park on the north end of the city, is currently undergoing an expansion to double its size, Sayler said.
The retail Ashley Furniture site is leasing the South Main Street space from Southwood Plaza LLC/Tolson Enterprises, in Toledo.
“Having a filled-in space is wonderful,” Sayler said. And having a retail store in the same community as the warehouse will make it more convenient for customers, she added.
“It seemed like a nature fit,” Sayler said this morning.
Also moving into the same strip of stores is a Rapid Fire Pizza restaurant, which will be located just to the south of Ashley Furniture.
The zoning variance for Ashley Furniture was requested by Advance Sign Group, to allow the construction of a wall sign that would be 191.42 square feet in size, which is 79.42 square feet larger than allowed in the city’s B-2 general commercial zoning district. The request also asks for permission for the sign to extend 4 feet, 2 inches above the roof line, which is not allowed under zoning.
The application stated that since the façade of the building is being remodeled for the furniture store, the larger sign will be better suited to the scale of the new façade.
The sign on the building, reading “Ashley Homestore Select,” will be the only sign for the new business.
Ashley Furniture currently has other area retail locations in Findlay and in Spring Meadows shopping center near Toledo.
