By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
A home furnishings store is looking to make a home here in Bowling Green.
Ashley Furniture has applied for a zoning variance to put up a large sign 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.
The variance request will go before the Zoning Board of Appeals on Sept. 14, at 7 p.m., in the city Administrative Services Building, at 304 N. Church St.
Ashley Furniture has had a warehouse in Bowling Green for several years. 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 Friday morning. And having a retail store in the same community as the warehouse will make it more convenient for customers, she added.
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 retail locations in Findlay and in Spring Meadows shopping center near Toledo.
