822 Haywood Road in West Asheville now just an empty green space

Jason Sandford

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

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Before

After

The house at 822 Haywood Road, the former location of Blue Lotus Ayurveda in West Asheville, was torn down on July 23. The lot’s now empty and covered with freshly-laid sod.

A commenter on the West Asheville Watch Facebook group explains what’s going on:

Spoke with him and his wife this morning – plan is to build a 3 car garage & add a circular driveway so they won’t have to back out into Haywood traffic. Sad to see the old building go, but as someone pointed out, glad they’re spending local. Nice folks – they could live ANYWHERE but after 47 years, their house here is their home!

The “him and his wife” the commenter references is Frank and Loretta Griffin, West Asheville’s resident millionaires–Frank Griffin is a 2010 $141M Powerball winner. His win was the largest Powerball jackpot in N.C. history.

A worker on the site told me it took 11 truckloads of dirt to fill in the footprint of the house.

Even millionaires know it: Asheville is home.