Ashvegas Hot Sheet: Noble Kava moves from downtown to West Asheville

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Jason Sandford

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

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Ashvegas: The City You Love. The News You Want.More of what’s going around:

-Noble Kava has moved from its Eagle Street location in downtown Asheville to Haywood Road in West Asheville, in the spot formerly held by a clothing shop called Get It, Kitten. It sounds like there’s another move in store after that. Here’s the Noble post on FB:

Moving day at the Kava Bar, I can’t express the sadness that I feel having to leave here, I came in this morning and Max, and Caleb were still here, they had been here all night reminiscing. I have tears coming my eyes every fifteen minutes or so, I have a strong urge just to sit here until the police remove me. This place has been my refuge from all the shit life throws at us for years, it’s my medication, my family, I can’t depend on my real family, but I can depend on you guys. Whatever happens we have to keep this family together, or I fear that I won’t be able to make it. Please guys let’s do our best to stay together through this move to West Asheville, and eventually Biltmore. I know we can do this if we stick together. You guys are my life blood, and I can’t survive without you. I love you guys, my family!

-Is Westville Pub still closed following a fire a couple of weeks ago? I haven’t been by to look lately.

-The Asheville Flyer for Kids, a monthly print publication full of games and puzzles aimed at kids, has ceased publication, but the characters such as Banjo the Whistlepig will live on in the pages of the Iwanna. More from the AFK newsletter:

Another thing that’s gone for now, you may have already noticed, is the monthly printed version of Asheville Flyer for Kids. It’s true. After three years of producing our paper every month, Publisher Tim Arem and Editor Stu Helm have decided to wrap-it-up, and we ceased printing AFK after the September 2015 issue

Tim and I have been dedicated to the printing our monthly kids paper for 3 years, which is 36 issues, which is 360,000 copies of fun, games, puzzles, prizes, fashion advice, coloring pages, Janupu, interviews, book reviews, and as our motto states “stuff to read while your parents do something completely boring.”

It’s been super-fun, we’ve made great friends along the way, hosted parties, given away $1,000’s of dollars worth of gift certificates and prizes to kids and families, and introduced a whole range of fun characters to the people of Asheville. I even got to dress up like a whistlepig, and be in the 2014 Holiday Parade! The good news is that Banjo and all of his friends will still be around, in the pages of our old friends, The IWANNA!

-A mindfulness workshop begins Sunday in Asheville. It’s led by Linda Hamilton. Check it out.

-Word on the street is that a wine bar is coming to Haywood Road, in the neighborhood of the new Haywood Comics and Firestorm Cafe locations.

-Sticking with Haywood Road, it looks like work has begun on the old Ingles-slash-Rush fitness center location at the corner of Haywood Road and Patton Avenue. A new Ace Hardware store has been planned for that location, 970 Haywood.

-Saga Communications aka the Asheville Radio Group recently launched a new country radio station that’s branded 105.5 The Outlaw. A press release says the station “is positioned as ‘Legends & The Young Guns’ featuring a mix of current and classic artists as well as a splash of Southern Rock. The format gives Asheville an in-market competitor to IHeart’s market leading 99.9 Kiss Country WKSF.”

-In other radio news, there’s this from ESPN Asheville:

ESPN Asheville, the area’s only sports station, can now be heard on another spot on your radio. The station is now broadcasting up to the minute scores, stats, and scuttlebutt at 97.3 FM.

The new signal will air the same programming heard on AM 1310 and 970, including “Mike & Mike in the Morning”, and “The Wise Guys”, Asheville’s daily live and local sports talk show hosted by Pat Ryan and Bill McClement from 3-6 pm.

-The BB&T building, Asheville’s tallest building, is set for a major makeover. The building has long been viewed as downright ugly, but in the 1980s, it was a major blight on downtown. Here’s a little history from an Asheville architectural survey:

In the mid-1980s, the Northwestern Bank Building, an eighteen-story steel-and-glass skyscraper at 1 Pack Square NW, was becoming a substantial eyesore. Erected in 1964-1965, the Mies van der Rohe-inspired office tower was the tallest building in western North Carolina and the largest downtown construction project in over thirty years. When it was built, the building dramatically changed the skyline of downtown, razing a full block of three- and four story early twentieth century commercial buildings to accommodate the new structure, which featured a paved plaza, 30 feet by 137 feet, lying in front of the building. The project also claimed the Langren Hotel, a prominent eight-story edifice erected in 1912 on the northeast corner of Biltmore Avenue and College Street, which was demolished for a multi-level parking garage. By 1985, however, the Northwestern Bank Building was suffering significantly from deferred maintenance with a leaking roof, failing window seals, unreliable elevators, and a loss of gas service. Deterioration of the boiler smokestack prevented the heating system from being fired, which, in turn, threatened a loss of the building’s occupancy permit. With vacancy rates at nearly twenty-five percent, the tower became a symbol of Asheville’s declining fortunes.

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Jason Sandford

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

  • 1

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9 Comments

  1. Matt December 5, 2015

    “-A mindfulness workshop begins Sunday in Asheville. It’s led by Linda Hamilton. Check it out.”

    When is there NOT a mindfulness workshop going on in town?

    Reply
  2. luther blissett December 4, 2015

    So what’s the story with Noble Kava? I’ve never been in, but whenever I’ve gone down Eagle Street at night there’s been a bunch of people gathered on the doorstep on in the street itself. The FB posts suggest that they’ve had run-ins with APD about their, um, product.

    (Each to their own: kava’s legal, and there aren’t too many non-boozy hangouts in town open after around 7pm.)

    Reply
    1. Doc December 5, 2015

      The post suggests nothing about their “um,product.” The reference to the police seems to be more of a statement of their desire to stay in that location, and was more a stylistic turn.

      Kind of like one step below…”wild horses couldn’t drag me away.”

      Reply
    2. No name, please December 5, 2015

      POV from someone who works on Eagle Street:

      We were actually pretty excited about the kava bar at first. New life and an interesting business on our street sounded great.

      But shortly after they opened, the kava bar was rumored to be a source for synthetic pot. True or not, I don’t know, but the rumor attracted a very undesirable element to the street. Transients hung out on the sidewalk, muttering obscenities to us women and making us feel pretty unsafe, especially after dark.

      When that element was finally purged after close to a year, the sidewalk became a hangout for people in their teens/early 20’s who blocked the sidewalk, smoked a LOT of cigarettes, left trash behind, and were generally disrespectful and annoying. No crime in any of those things (except blocking the sidewalk and littering), but to the people who are trying to run their businesses on Eagle Street, their presence was definitely detrimental.

      Limones is a terrific restaurant, but customers often had to walk through clouds of smoke and buzzed teenagers to get there. People trying to access the offices between the kava bar and Limones sometimes had to request people move (along with their backpacks and dogs) so they could open the door.

      The issue is compounded because the sidewalk beyond the kava bar has been closed off with a construction fence for over a year. That’s a whole ‘nother issue, and not the kava bar’s fault, but it made for less sidewalk and therefore much more likely to be blocked.

      When Andrew, the owner of the kava bar, was spoken to about all of these issues (on numerous occasions, formally and informally), his response was that he can only demand that his customers not smoke out front or block the sidewalk. If they weren’t his customers, he said, he had no recourse. I doubt most of the people that hung out there were customers, but nevertheless, it was a huge issue for those of us who work nearby.

      I witnessed Andrew himself smoking and talking to a crowd blocking the sidewalk so many times I can’t count, so I guess he is exempt from his own rules. I’ve also seen him throw trash over the fence into the construction area. What a class act.

      It sucks that there aren’t many non-boozy places to hang out after 7pm, as luther says. However, if someone wants to run a business where lots of people hang out, it’s a smart business move to do your best to get along with your neighbors.

      Reply
      1. There is some misinformation in your post. First off, Kava Bar has never been a source of synthetic pot, and if you knew anything about the proprietors and the business itself you would clearly understand what a foolish “rumor” your are spreading. The smoke shop across the street, on the other hand, is one of the few places in town where you could consistently buy synthetic pot up until the big Octopus Garden bust last year- now they only carry it sometimes and you have to know exactly who and how to ask for it. The smoke shop across the street is also as much a source of oft-complained about “sketchy crowd” as any other establishment on Eagle Street. The Kava Bar is gone but the downtown crowd is a fixture, and the smoke shop will continue to draw them down to Eagle Street.

        What it really comes down to is Limones doesn’t want to have a neighbor. Does anybody think that the situation would be better if there was a bar next door? Because that’s probably what’s going to happen, and little Misses Limone is going to be wishing she had been nicer to her previous neighbor. I know Andrew personally, and watched as he extended olive branch after olive branch to the business next door and was met with nothing but pure nastiness in return. Before signing the lease, they were even warned by the landlord that the neighbors (Limones) were not nice people, and would not likely welcome another business next door that opens itself to the public. So now we have one less community-minded business keeping an eye on Eagle Street… Limones will be happy until they get a new neighbor and process starts anew- and just wait until the renovations are done down the street. Limones makes nice food, but they’re not exactly a fixture- it don’t predict they’ll be able to keep up with Asheville’s current pace, especially with what’s about to happen to Eagle Street and S. Market.

        Reply
  3. wavl December 4, 2015

    So the headline on the home page says a wine bar is coming to Haywood? I don’t see anything on this page? Or is the wine bar the kava bar?

    Reply
  4. Orbit DVD December 3, 2015

    The Pub is slated to be back early next week!

    Reply
    1. Santa December 4, 2015

      Good to know. Thanks for that info!

      Reply
    2. A dude in W Avl December 4, 2015

      I spoke to Drew yesterday, looks like as early as Monday 12/7! Yay!!

      Reply

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