51 replies to this topic

[rooster8]

It's too bad the developers couldn't get the city to open up Spruce Street as part of this project.

[orulz]

^ Did they try? Hopefully it will be reopened if the Renaissance parking lot is ever redeveloped.

[rooster8]

I don't know if the question was ever asked on their part (I doubt it).

That whole Renaissance property is such a missed opportunity.  In my imagination the part that fronts on College would be replaced with a deck with offices/retail wrapped on the front (similar to the L Building in Raleigh).

I can dream.  

[erm1981]

NcSc74, on Nov 12 2005, 05:35 PM, said:

I agree totally. I think most Carolinians tend to forget about Asheville. It is a very engaging city. Is it me or does Asheville kinda feels out of place in terms of NC city wise. I think the distance has shaped the city in a totally different direction...and I like it. Grow Asheville but grow smart and never sacrifice you character.

I think Asheville and Greenville are pretty connected to each other.  They both use the mountains to their advantage as a tourist draw.  They are growing very similiarly also.  Both cities dont really have any super tall 50+ story buildings but they do have a nice dense atmosphere and street scene that many other NC and SC cities would like to have.  I would like to see even more of a connection be made between Greenville and Asheville.  I have always liked Asheville for it being different from the other NC cities.  I think Willminton also has that feel about it.

[rooster8]

I drove by really late last night and I must say I was impressed as to its presence.  It's a nice complement to the Altamount Apartments.  

My only regret is that there isn't a lot of retail in that block (it seemed like mostly lawyers).  I guess they have to go somewhere.

[hauntedheadnc]

rooster8, on Sep 3 2008, 11:53 AM, said:

I drove by really late last night and I must say I was impressed as to its presence.  It's a nice complement to the Altamount Apartments.  

My only regret is that there isn't a lot of retail in that block (it seemed like mostly lawyers).  I guess they have to go somewhere.

Well, it is right near the courthouse and all.  I guess it's only natural that a development like that so close to the courthouse would attract lawyers and such.  I guess we should be happy it didn't fill up with bail bondsmen.

[Whistler]

I recently walked around this building, and was puzzled by its relationship to Market and Woodfin Streets. Its "public" faces look inwards towards the middle of the block, towards the Renaissance parking lot and the closed Spruce Street, and over the Thomas Wolfe House and Visitors Center. These public faces have a great deal of design interest -- sculpted balconies, green glass, etc.

The Market and Woodfin sides--the street sides of the building that face outwards from the block -- have a secondary design status, being flat, EIFS-covered, and punctuated by inoperable single-pane casement windows and what appear to be metal bathroom or laundry vents. Except for the ground floor storefronts on the Market side, both the Woodfin and Market sides have the ambiance of an alley side or a service entrance.

So, I suppose this development has been configured to fit the site, turning residents' views away from I-240 on the Woodfin Street side. But in doing so, the Market and Woodfin sides are stuck with some really sub-par design.

[rooster8]

I can't tell if it is finished.  I didn't see any workers, but it was lunch time.



You can sort of make out the lackluster "frontage" on Market Street.  There is an entrance, but not a very impressive one.

[archiham04]

the entrance doesn't bother me that much. It is a condo building, not a civic building.  I doubt the city would have let them get too creative at the street.  That would not fly with their current matchy-matchy understanding of context.

[orulz]

This building has a small retail space on both Market and Woodfin, right? I imagine whoever occupies the space will put in an awning. While awnings aren't magic, they do tend to help a building relate better with the street.

It isn't exceptional, but I do find it to be the best of the recent buildings downtown. It's not as boring as 12 S Lexington or Indigo, and it's not flat out ugly like 21 Battery Park either. It's attractive, if conservative.

[kermit]

rooster8, on Feb 20 2009, 12:49 PM, said:

I can't tell if it is finished.  I didn't see any workers, but it was lunch time.

People had moved into 5 or 6 units as of Tuesday.

I thought it looked good from a distance but, as previously discussed, nothing drew me to it on street level.

[thecowgoesmoo]

Downtown Asheville condos change hands
   By Mark Barrett  •  August 15, 2009

var numDivs ="1";if (GDN.Cookie.Exists("GCIONSN") ) { var GPCookie = GDN.Cookie.Get('GCIONSN'); var GPvalueEncData= GDN.Base64.Decode(GPCookie); var GPvalueDecData= GPvalueEncData.match(/GPvalue:([\w\@\.\-\%\|]+)/i); if(PaginationArticleCookie != PaginationArticleUrl || GPvalueDecData == null || GPvalueDecData[1] == 'undefined' || typeof(GPvalueDecData[0]) == 'undefined') { var saxoNextPage = "908150323%7C2%7C1"; var saxoPreviousPage = "908150323%7C1%7C1"; } } else { var saxoNextPage = "908150323%7C2%7C1"; var saxoPreviousPage = "908150323%7C1%7C1"; }  ASHEVILLE — An Atlanta real estate investment trust has bought the remaining unsold units in a condominium project at 60 N. Market St. downtown.

  The deal appears to be another sign that the market for downtown condos has slowed significantly.

A subsidiary of Cousins Properties bought 32 units — a little less than half the total — in the nine-story building from its developer, Market Street Development, for $11.4 million late last month.

Cousins was a lender for 60 North Market, which was completed around the first of the year at a total cost of more than $25 million.

Jason Frost, a Cousins vice president for development who is involved in efforts to sell the units, did not say directly that the deal was a distressed sale forced by slow sales.

“It was probably to a point where it just made sense for us to take over the remaining units. I don't think anyone could have anticipated the downturn in the market,” Frost said.

The downtown condo market declined dramatically during the local and national housing bubble and has yet to recover, said local real estate analyst Don Davies. Several other downtown projects with residential condos in them have yet to be built.

Investors have stopped buying condos for resale, Davies said, and some other buyers are staying away from condominiums because they associate them with horror stories from places like Florida, where the condo market has been flooded.

Another issue is the high price of most downtown units, he said, particularly at a time when expensive detached homes are going unsold on the local market.

Developers in general “missed appealing to the local market,” Davies said. “I just don't see the heavy demand for downtown Asheville at the prices they're asking.”

The least expensive unit in the building is priced around $250,000, Frost said. Most are between $250,000 and $500,000, and a penthouse is offered at a little more than $1 million.

Cousins bought 28 residential units and four condominiums designed for retail or other commercial use. A sales center is in the building.

Cousins officials are “trying to come up with the best game plan to get the remaining units (sold). … We are looking at whether we would have a small discount to try and spur some sales,” Frost said.

  Fairview resident Jim Privette, who developed the project with another investor, declined comment.

Edited by thecowgoesmoo, 16 August 2009 - 05:16 AM.