60 North Market Street, downtown Asheville

[orulz]

Read the article from the Citizen Times.

The next proposal for DT Asheville is a 9-story mixed use building on the north end of downtown. This will be a "modern, glass-and-brick structure" including ground-level retail and 75 residential units. The lot is L-shaped, and the building will wrap around the 8-story Altamont Apartments building. It will be next door to the Thomas Wolfe home, and will have a number of different elevations facing in different directions. Towards the Thomas Wolfe home it will be 2 stories tall; towards Woodfin Street it will be 7 stories, and on Market Street it will be 9 stories. No renderings yet, but we should probably see something tomorrow.

Along with this project, I'd like to see Spruce Street reconnected through to Woodfin Street to break up the "superblock" - but it's really not all that important.

Unlike the 12-story Dixon on Biltmore, this building will require council approval. (wonder why?)

Things in Asheville really seem to be picking up steam. No 53-story Epicentres, but by my calculation this makes for six, 6-12 story midrises either proposed or currently under construction downtown:

21 Battery Park (7 - nearly complete)

12 South Lexington (7 - construction)

Jail Annex (6 - construction)

Dixon on Biltmore (12 - approved)

Buncombe County offices (10 - approved)

60 North Market (9 - proposed)

plus several low-rises downtown:

3-story mixed-use Lexington Station (construction)

4 story Griffin Apartments (construction)

3-story building at Lexington and Hiawassee (proposed, but perhaps not a serious proposal?)

plus the 7-story Glen Rock in the river district (approved)

plus the 5-story "Gateway" complex on Broadway between Elizabeth and Starnes (proposed)

That's not bad for a city of 70,000!

[rooster8]

Asheville, downtown at least, feels like a much bigger city than 70,000. When you drive through the tunnel going into downtown, it's like you're driving into some other place after seeing all the mess on Tunnel Road.

[Dylan]

Asheville wont ever have any skyscrapers. I like how new projects are starting in the city. Asheville is really coming along nicely indeed.

[appatone]

I consider the big brown behemoth a skyscraper. And anyway, would Asheville want a 53 floor building? I wouldn't want one for Asheville; it would screw up a good thing. All of these mid-rises in Asheville's future are very exciting! Asheville will have a very large walkable downtown (not that it's too small now). Asheville will continue to develop as it has, in a very European manner. Asheville is very lucky and as a North Carolinian I feel lucky to have Asheville.

[SouthJersey7]

I consider the big brown behemoth a skyscraper. And anyway, would Asheville want a 53 floor building? I wouldn't want one for Asheville; it would screw up a good thing. All of these mid-rises in Asheville's future are very exciting! Asheville will have a very large walkable downtown (not that it's too small now). Asheville will continue to develop as it has, in a very European manner. Asheville is very lucky and as a North Carolinian I feel lucky to have Asheville.

I agree. Skyscrapers, despite looking nice from a distant view, really are sort of counter-productive to building a walkable environment. Too often they require nearby structures to be razed for parking garages or lots. And it seems like, especially with office towers, they rarely ever have street-level retail, and even if so it's usually not fronting the street it requires you to go in the main entrance of the building. Anyway my point being, a place like Asheville could use some good mid-rise mixed use, but skyscrapers are not necessary.

[orulz]

Oh, I wasn't necessarily saying that a 53-story skyscraper would be a good thing for Asheville, I was simply trying to keep the recent developments in Asheville in perspective with the massive projects going on elsewhere in the state and region. Yes, mid-rises are a great fit in downtown Asheville.

The only tall building that I really want to see would be the planned - but never constructed - 19 story tower for the Grove Arcade, built exactly as envisioned in 1929. It would be a perfect complement to the Battery Park Hotel, and a project that no NIMBY could refuse, because it is a tower that was meant to be! Too bad the stock market crashed and Grove died. Building an ornate art-deco skyscraper like that today would be one heck of an expensive project...

I also wouldn't preclude the possibility of other large projects going up in Asheville in the distant future. I think the "black hole" effect associated with tall buildings is often overstated, particularly in a vibrant downtown that is neither dead nor dying. But I don't think Asheville is ready for something like that. 25 years from now, let's talk.

[appatone]

That Grove tower sounds awesome. Were there ever any renderings?

[orulz]

A 1920s-era Rendering of the never-built Grove Arcade tower:

http://skyscraperpage.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=16486

A plaque on the street next to the arcade commemorating the arcade and the tower:

http://skyscraperpage.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=9410

The foundations for the tower are still in place in the center of the building, and I believe that there are some fairly complete schematics still out there. By following the schematics and using genuine materials rather than EFIS, etc. we could be assured that any attempt to build this tower would not be a "cheap modern immitation" but rather a genuine art-deco masterpiece.

[appatone]

Thanks for that rendering. That really is a beautiful building but hoping that someone will build it without cheapening it is well... I guess it's all about the bottom line. Wonderful building though. But look at it this way, if it were built, Asheville's downtown may have had plenty of office space and you wouldn't have that elegant BB&T tower. Hmmm...

I remember seeing the plaque, I thought it might be a new proposal at first. But then I realized it was a sad miss.

[rooster8]

It would be nice if somehow it could be built now. It would make Mr. Grove proud.

[NCMike1981]

The Grove Tower would have looked beautiful. Oh well, downtown Asheville is still a great place.

[orulz]

New articles in the Citizen-Times about 60 North Market.

The main point is that the Downtown Commission unanimously endorsed the project. The usual suspects (repeat offender NIMBYs) showed up and were "shocked" at the mere existence of such a project, but cooler heads prevailed - some were critical of the extremely modern appearance but most recognized and approved of the concessions the developer made in the name of compatibility with its surroundings.

Renderings can be found here.

[jr7777]

Thanks for the info. Seeing as how Asheville news is popping up more on the board, could we possibly get an "Asheville updates" topic pinned to the top?

[NcSc74]

I consider the big brown behemoth a skyscraper. And anyway, would Asheville want a 53 floor building? I wouldn't want one for Asheville; it would screw up a good thing. All of these mid-rises in Asheville's future are very exciting! Asheville will have a very large walkable downtown (not that it's too small now). Asheville will continue to develop as it has, in a very European manner. Asheville is very lucky and as a North Carolinian I feel lucky to have Asheville.

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.

[Rufus]

a little tid bit, before the stock market crash in the early 1930s, Asheville was the Aspen of the country, thus why Vanderbilt built his mansion there. It also was one of the state's largest cities. That sounds interesting considering it is now the 10th largest city in our state.

[cinco]

a little tid bit, before the stock market crash in the early 1930s, Asheville was the Aspen of the country, thus why Vanderbilt built his mansion there. It also was one of the state's largest cities. That sounds interesting considering it is now the 10th largest city in our state.

yesssss, but like the phoenix - she too is rising from the ashes.

[orulz]

Here is a diagram of where 60 North Market will go:

[orulz]

Quick update: The public hearing for the zoning request associated with 60 North Market Street will be on Tuesday January 24th.

North Elevation:

South Elevation:

East Elevation:

West Elevation:

Simulation rendering in context:

[orulz]

Another reminder: The public hearing to consider this building is at tomorrow's city council meeting at City Hall, 5:00pm tomorrow!

ASHEVILLE CITY COUNCIL PUBLIC HEARINGS On January 24, 2006 Notice is hereby given that the City Council of the City of Asheville will hold the following public hearings at its regular meeting at 5:00 p.m. on the 24th day of January, 2006, in the Council Chamber on the Second Floor of the City Hall Building, Asheville, N.C.: (1) Public hearing to consider a conditional use permit for property located at North Market and Woodfin Streets, known as 60 North Market Street, and identified on the Buncombe County tax maps and records as PIN No. 9649.18-41-5349, for a proposed mixed-use residential - condominium with street level commercial development.

.

You can bet that Nimbys will be out in full force on this one given its proximity to the Thomas Wolfe home. Any of you who can, try and show up! Be sure to let them know that you want this building constructed exactly as proposed. Well, maybe a bit friendlier treatment along the walkway that used to be Spruce Street (and could become so once more) would be nice. Beyond that, this building is basically perfect! So let 'em hear it.

[orulz]

Oh, by the way...

hauntedheadnc: what do you think of this building? I know you don't much care for modern architecture, but I say this one is pretty much a home run. If we could demand this standard from other developers wanting to build modern, we'd be in good shape.

[hauntedheadnc]

The only change I would make would be to make the building a little more friendly to the street. That, and maybe spice up the roofline a little, but aside from that it's good modern architecture.

It's a good building overall, I think, but I'd really like to see a model, and see how it would look in context before I call it wonderful. For some reason, I just have a hard time picturing how this building will look when completed.

[archiham04]

I went to the meeting this evening and the project was approved for conditional use. The new elevations are awful. The Technical Review Committee must have required "contextual materials" or something. The simple and elegant material palate originally proposed has been trashed in favor of punched openings and an assortment of brick types. This stuff really gets me bothered. Thank goodness the TRC wasn't around in the 20's to "fix" all of the architect's decisions. Jackson Building would have been brick, the S&W Brick, the Grove Arcade brick; IM Pei brick. Just think... if we're lucky, eventually Asheville's architecture will rival Walt Disney's!

[orulz]

Sounds disappointing. The document on the council agenda shows the same building that was in the Citizen-Times; I guess it must have changed. Sometimes I think that these commissions and review boards feel like they need to make some demands just to leave their mark on the building.

The design was, of course, brick to begin with (a light tan shade of brick similar to the Flat Iron building.) Do you mean that it's now standard red brick? What has changed in the design beyond the materials? What exactly is a punched opening? Did we lose the glass wall on the south face?

Sorry for all the questions. It would bother me quite a lot if the rather exemplary design of this building were sacrificed in a significant way.

[archiham04]

All I was able to see were the elevations and axonometrics that they projected on the screen, so I might be getting a little ahead of myself, but there is definitely red brick along the East Elevation and they seemed to have lost a lot glass. It looks a lot heavier.

A "punched" opening is a window in a wall that is predominatley solid. For example in the original rendering, the Market street elevation has small windows in a tall brick wall, or punched openings, while the windows on the south wall are part of a curtain wall of glass, offset by massive pillars.

[orulz]

First news in a while on this project. This was in the agenda for today's TRC (Technical Review Committee) meeting.

OTHER BUSINESS/ADJOURNMENT

Final review for the Level III site plan for 60 North Market Street, located at North Market Street with additional frontage on Woodfin Street, for a proposed mixed-use building with street level commercial development. The proposed building contains 75 residential units and approx. 6,000 square feet of commercial space. The owner is Halliday Capital, LLC and the contact is Jim Privette. PIN 9649.18-41-5349.

So it looks like the developers, who have already had their plan approved by council, are finalizing their site plan. We've seen renderings and the number of units (75) has remained constant throughout, so I have to assume they're very close to a final design on this project. Perhaps once the SP is done, they'll put up a website, release the floor plans, open a sales center, and let the eager public reserve some condos