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What's located at 22 Church Street?


hauntedheadnc

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Actually, I did NOT telling you that "there is absolutely nobody anywhere who would want the building to use as whatever." But I think it's highly unlikely that someone with any actual information about the condition of the property would come in and pay what it would realistically cost to have it saved for the sake of preserving a 1950's Faux-Georgian facade, parts of an older Church roof, and a cool brick exterior on Lexington Ave.

If you know of someone who is willing to buy the property from the Church, please by all means let the Church know. Everything is for sale, at the right price, isn't it? I think the Church would listen to reasonable offers.

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In very nearly any situation, I would rather have a building than another parking lot. Even a building like this that's worn and needs work, but is not a blight on the neighborhood is, in my opinion, better than a parking lot. A small parking lot in place of a building will contribute nothing to the neighborhood in the long-term, particularly not when the county is planning a huge parking deck on the DSS parking lot (right across the street from the church) in the near future. To me it's not about preserving the building for the sake of its history or its intrinsic value; it's about not wanting to end up with another stupid parking lot.

In the end it's up to the church to do with their property what they see fit. I see nothing wrong, however, with encouraging them to leave the building rather than demolishing it. The first amendment protects my right to express my opinion of what they church had ought to do with the building. And to tell the truth, the Downtown Commission has no power to do anything more than express their opinion either. DTC review is mandatory, but compliance is optional.

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I think if the proposal involved the replacement of this building with a urban-style building, then the sentiment here might be a bit different. I think we're all smart enough to realize that it's the church's property and it's their right to do what they desire. However, the destruction of any part of the urban fabric (and lack of a suitable replacement) is really the root of the issue here.

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Haunted-

If the Church were to keep the building as is, per your desire, how do you suggest they continue to foot the bill for:

1. Upkeep and maintenance of the empty, unusable building

2. Liability insurance for that property, and security to protect it and people who might want to use it for illegal purposes

3. Cleanup of the remnants from when it was used as a Dry cleaning facility.

Preserving historical and interesting buildings in Asheville is ideally the first, best way to go. Whether that option is economically feasible and possible is often another story. In this case the Church and the design team looked very hard for a way to preserve the building and improve it. Unfortunately, that no longer appears to be a viable way to go.

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Our firm is working with Central Methodist on an expansion plan that includes a family life center. The parking lot in question is only a temporary solution to provide parking for the cars that are now parked on the future construction site of the family life center. When the family life center is complete, the temporary parking lot will be developed into a building that is compatible with Church Street and South Lexington Avenue. The members of the Central Methodist who are our client are very eager to leave a positive legacy building to the city for future generations. Stay tuned.

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Our firm is working with Central Methodist on an expansion plan that includes a family life center. The parking lot in question is only a temporary solution to provide parking for the cars that are now parked on the future construction site of the family life center. When the family life center is complete, the temporary parking lot will be developed into a building that is compatible with Church Street and South Lexington Avenue. The members of the Central Methodist who are our client are very eager to leave a positive legacy building to the city for future generations. Stay tuned.
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  • 1 year later...

Bringing this thread back from the dead.

Renderings of CUMC's Family Life Center are here. The Family Life Center will sit atop 3 levels of structured parking. If there's anywhere that 3 levels of structured parking directly facing the street at sidewalk level won't bother me, this is it, at the corner of Aston and Buncombe.

I'm still somewhat concerned with the demolition of 22 Church Street. I enjoy this industrial looking building and its bizarre past. It also provides some sense of enclosure to Patton Avenue. I wish the church would look elsewhere for temporary parking during construction of their new addition, particularly with the enormous county parking deck (which will be completely empty on Sundays) in the works right next door. There has to be somebody who's willing to lease the use of their parking lot to the church for just one day a week.

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Orulz -- do you have any indication that this project is coming back to life? Last I heard, the proposal to the Downtown Commission was tabled sometime last year. Demolition for surface parking--no matter what the building demolished--strikes me as bottom of the barrel planning and design.

22 Church Street is an industrial buidling with the attendant design issues (brownfields). There's been a lot of buidling reuse in Asheville, but any big time industrial rehab? (I haven't seen much action in the River District.)

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No, no indication that this is moving forward in the short term. I brought it up because while browsing the web, I saw the renderings for the Central UMC expansion (which I had not seen before.) The expansion is still definitely in the church's plans, but again, not in the immediate future. Chances are it will take them some time to raise capital to do this expansion anyway. I fully expect them to carry out their expansion plans. Not sure what they plan to do regarding the parking situation. Maybe they'll just put off construction until the County's deck is done, in which case the parking situation may be less of an issue.

However, remember that while DTC review is mandatory, compliance is voluntary. The DTC is not the board that would have to approve the demolition, though their recommendation does carry some weight. Not sure exactly who makes the final approval, though.

As far as industrial renovations are concerned, there have been some but nothing big has been done in Asheville that I'm aware of. There really aren't a lot of big, old industrial buildings to begin with (especially not after the Cotton Mill burned.) The Habitat for Humanity store and Mica Village in BV come to mind as complete, comprehensive adaptive reuses of industrial buildings to meet modern codes. Both probably included some environmental mitigation as well. Wedge Studios, Phil Mechanic studios, the Tannery, and some others in the river district have all undergone adaptive reuse, but I'm not sure the extent of renovations. The amount of upfit and utilities necessary for artists' studios is not as great as a full residential or commercial renovation.

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