Biltmore Village developments

[hauntedheadnc]

Oh yeah... that place. That's a dump. If they want to fru-frutize that place more power to them. Thanks for digging that up!

[rooster8]

It's all making sense now.

[otis-t]

The 63 Brook Street site now features a 1960s-ish strip mall, on a very long, narrow lot. Seems like new development there would require taking a large chunk out of the hillside behind it. About the influx of chain stores into Biltmore Village -- I have a hard time conceptualizing how the Village is going to handle the congestion these new businesses are bound to bring. And regarding Hauntedhead's post -- new development in Biltmore Village is displacing local business. Three businesses were bought out and town down to make way for the hulking mass that will house William-Sonoma et al. Tenants, including what appeared to be a mom & pop barber shop and non-chain clothing store, have disappeared from 63 Brook over the last few months. Biltmore Village is fast on its way to becoming Anywhere, USA with a few cottages interspersed in between.

[hauntedheadnc]

Biltmore Village is strictly upmarket. It doesn't have a prayer of staying locally-oriented, and the Charlestonization (boring stores in unique buildings) of Asheville is going to occur to some degree no matter what. I'd prefer that it stay localized to upscale districts like Biltmore Village, or in the new shopping areas of the area's new urbanist developments.

Regarding congestion, somehow Asheville made things work well back when it was much denser, so I'm not terribly concerned. Besides, if it gets too crowded, perhaps that will deter some tourists. God knows we have more than enough already.

[rooster8]

Just read that J.Crew is opening in the new development with Talbots, etc. There is one retail spot left in the development.

[rooster8]

Just saw this press release about the Bohemia hotel. A few of the highlights:

-106 "luxurious" guest rooms - 86 in main building with 20 in the Manor House across the street

-Red Stag Grille chop house style restaurant

-Grand Bohemian Art Gallery

They are expecting a Fall 2008 opening.

[otis-t]

Just saw this press release about the Bohemia hotel. A few of the highlights:

-106 "luxurious" guest rooms - 86 in main building with 20 in the Manor House across the street

-Red Stag Grille chop house style restaurant

-Grand Bohemian Art Gallery

They are expecting a Fall 2008 opening.

It's a lovely rendering, though it omits the traffic backed from the intersection of Lodge and Biltmore way back onto Sweeten Creek most mornings, most afternoons, certainly every Friday afternoon, and some holidays. It also omits the poor, unfortunate souls trying to turn in and out of the McDonalds parking lot. In fact, it's rather a Utopian rendering, suggesting that one might actually walk across Biltmore or Lodge at leisurely pace instead of hopping, skipping, and dodging like a game of Frogger.

[archiham04]

I'll be interested to see if the scale of this rendering turns out to be accurate. The road right of way for Boston way seems to be about 60 feet. By my estimate, that would make this rendering represent about a 40 foot tall building by about 125 feet long... .

[orulz]

This photo is actually looking west from Lodge St (US 25a) at its intersection with Biltmore Ave. Lodge Street is about a 70' right-of-way (~9' sidewalk x2 ; 11' outside lane x2 ; 10' inside lane x3). Boston and Biltmore are probably both 60'.

The property the hotel is located on is about 170' along Boston/Lodge, and 160' along Biltmore/All Souls.

Not quite sure how tall it is going to be. 55' would be my guess.

The one thing I'm curious about is what this thing will look like from Boston. I've never seen an elevation or rendering of that side. Presumably that's where the parking entrance and port cochere will be. This block of Boston isn't a "major" street in any way, shape, or form, but I still hope it's not just a giant black-hole style parking entrance.

[rooster8]

Even more construction updates:

Bohemian Hotel Manor House:

Bohemian Hotel (main structure):

[orulz]

Thanks for all the updates rooster8.

This one looks like a pretty complicated project... even though it's not that big of a building, they're still cramming a lot into a small, constrained site.

Did you happen to notice if they dug below grade for the Manor House? I know they were digging about a half story below grade for the parking for the main hotel.

Now we need something on the northeast corner of the Biltmore/Lodge intersection (the parking lot next to the coffee shop formerly known as Biltmore Hardware).

[orulz]

Continuing the pattern of new dense development in and around Biltmore Village, there's a new project called "Silverman Mixed Use" proposed for a narrow lot on Swannanoa River Road near Biltmore Village. Plans include dedicating the ground level to parking, putting a 14,395 sq ft grocery store, and several other retail spaces on the second level, and topping it off with 4 levels of residential.

The fact that this is a flood zone leads to the disappointing design decision of dedicating the ground level to parking. However, it does seem that there will be a walkway that extends the entire length of the building's second level, which could serve kind of like a sidewalk.

Check the elevations and site plan on the Development Mapper.

This location is pretty well cut off from Biltmore Village proper, but it seems like it would be technically possible to build a street linkage from Reed street in BV over the tracks to Decatur Street, and then across the Swannanoa River from Thompson Street to Swannanoa River Road. The 2004 Wilma Dykeman Riverway plan calls for several new connections across the Swannanoa. While this isn't one of them, why couldn't it be? Such a connection would also be very important, since the proposed train station is along Decatur Street.

[orulz]

Seems I'm the only one who's posted in the Asheville forum for about two weeks... but I guess I'll keep on going:

There's an item on the May 5th TRC agenda called "Pickwick Lofts / Swannanoa River Road." Seems to me like this would be right next to the "Silverman" project, since there's a street off of Caledonia called Pickwick just across from the Silverman lot.

[orulz]

There's a new Holiday Inn Express just south of I-40 on the Development Mapper. This is the lot right next to the Huddle House. This hotel has a surprisingly urban design: it comes right up to the sidewalk with a pedestrian entrance directly on the sidewalk. Parking and the port cochere is partly to the side of the building, but mostly below the building.

Now what needs to happen is that the Hendersonville Rd/I-40 interchange needs to be reconstructed, kind of like the Merrimon Ave/I-240 interchange was, in order to make it navigable for pedestrians. All the cloverleaf ramps make it a death trap. Either make it a diamond (best) or at least decrease the swoopyness of the cloverleafs.

[rooster8]

Almost done!

Their website says they are opening on April 1.

[orulz]

Thanks for the photo update. Looks nice. One comment I have is that I wish the sidewalks along Biltmore Avenue (or is it called Hendersonville Rd there?) had the planting strips between the sidewalk and the street, not between the building and the sidewalk. This must be because of NCDOT's stupid regulations for keeping the right of way "Free of obstructions".

[101_ce]

Thanks for the photo update. Looks nice. One comment I have is that I wish the sidewalks along Biltmore Avenue (or is it called Hendersonville Rd there?) had the planting strips between the sidewalk and the street, not between the building and the sidewalk. This must be because of NCDOT's stupid regulations for keeping the right of way "Free of obstructions".

It is still Hendersonville Road until you get across the really old bridge. I am pretty sure that it is one of the bridges slated for replacement in Asheville. The hotel is now open and is actually called the 'Grand Bohemian Hotel'.

[thecowgoesmoo]

Did you happen to notice if they dug below grade for the Manor House? I know they were digging about a half story below grade for the parking for the main hotel.

The parking...isn't it across the street? I heard that they had to do away with the parking under the hotel because of height issues...some electrical or plumbing lines were miscalculated and were in the way of the parking deck entrance slope.

Interesting building.

[orulz]

I'm pretty sure, from pictures by rooster8 and the Citizen-Times, that there is parking on the bottom floor of both the main hotel and the "manor house."

If they ran into a problem late in the design or even construction phase where something didn't line up and electrical/plumbing lines were in the way of the parking deck, first of all I hope they fired whoever was responsible for drawing those plans. Second, electric and plumbing lines can be rerouted easily. No reason to scrap an element (the underground parking) that certainly added millions to the overall cost of the project.

Also, to answer my own question - looking at rooster8's pictures, it seems like the parking for the "manor house" is at street level.

But wow - this is such an improvement over the Exxon and Pedro's Porch. I wouldn't mind it if all of Biltmore Village got developed into classy upscale boutique stuff, because that's basically what it is today anyway.

On that subject, if you look earlier in this thread, there was a project to build a hotel where the old Plaza Motel used to be. That seems to have bit the dust: the March HRC agenda has an item labeled "New restaurant construction" with the address listed as 26 All Souls Crescent.

[orulz]

Continuing the pattern of new dense development in and around Biltmore Village, there's a new project called "Silverman Mixed Use" proposed for a narrow lot on Swannanoa River Road near Biltmore Village. Plans include dedicating the ground level to parking, putting a 14,395 sq ft grocery store, and several other retail spaces on the second level, and topping it off with 4 levels of residential.

The fact that this is a flood zone leads to the disappointing design decision of dedicating the ground level to parking. However, it does seem that there will be a walkway that extends the entire length of the building's second level, which could serve kind of like a sidewalk.

Check the elevations and site plan on the Development Mapper.

This location is pretty well cut off from Biltmore Village proper, but it seems like it would be technically possible to build a street linkage from Reed street in BV over the tracks to Decatur Street, and then across the Swannanoa River from Thompson Street to Swannanoa River Road. The 2004 Wilma Dykeman Riverway plan calls for several new connections across the Swannanoa. While this isn't one of them, why couldn't it be? Such a connection would also be very important, since the proposed train station is along Decatur Street.

Silverman has been redesigned & resubmitted. It's been split into 2 buildings and the site plan is marginally different but the general concept seems the same. Parking on the first floor, 20,000 square feet of retail on the second, and 197 residential units above. It's now called The Manor at Biltmore Village. See it here on the (you guessed it) Development Mapper.

197 units on 5 acres means about 40 units per acre - that's pretty damn dense. And actually, even the 5 acre figure is a bit deceptive - .8 acres of the property being planned for development is actually on the other side of Swannanoa River Road (aka, right on top of the Swannanoa River, therefore completely unbuildable, and only being included to transfer additional density to the buildable lot.)

I would hope that the city will require the developer to build a greenway along the Swannanoa River in front of this project, or at least give money to Riverlink as a fee-in-lieu arrangement or something.

[hauntedheadnc]

There's no elevations, of course, but the new design seems classier at first glance.

[rooster8]

Not a lot to report (compared to the old days), but I thought it worth noting that the old BP is now a fancy market/c-store. They still sell gas, but they no longer work on cars.

Exciting, I know!

[mediamongrel]

Not a lot to report (compared to the old days), but I thought it worth noting that the old BP is now a fancy market/c-store. They still sell gas, but they no longer work on cars.

Exciting, I know!

It's a decent place for a gas station but only if you're heading south on Hendersonville Road. If you are heading north towards town, you would have to jump towards the McDowell side for easy exit and entry into the station. Most people who know about that area stay away from it, especially after 3PM M-F, and all the time on weekends. Too many lights and congestion.

[orulz]

hauntedheadnc is right - the last paragraph of the article is talking about a second retail development on Brook Street, by the same developers.

Here is a map of the old strip center they're talking about. I think Google Maps has addresses for Brook Street mixed up. This one is listed in the Buncombe County tax records as 63 Brook Street, and it's actually further out what I would call Sweeten Creek Road.

Site plans for 63 Brook Street (corner of Brook & Reed) were submitted this week. The project is called "Biltmore Hill". It will have a retail development that looks exactly like the existing one on Brook Street (with apartments on the 2nd floor), and a second building behind it on top of the hill which will have a small 4 story apartment building. In all, the development will have 13 residential units and a little shy of 15,000sf of retail.

 

Site plan

Elevations

[rooster8]

Your link for the site plan goes to the Chrysler building site.  Here is the correct link:

 

Site Plan

 

That apartment is not in scale with the existing neighborhood.  I'm not saying it shouldn't or wouldn't be approved, just stating the obvious.