The Element Hotel, a new hotel proposed for a lot on the north side of the Beaucatcher Mountain tunnel, will be up for preliminary review at the Asheville Technical Review Committee meeting on Aug. 1.
The meeting is a cursory review for various city departments to get a first look at a project as it wends its way through the city’s approval bureaucracy, which can include stops at the Asheville Downtown Commission, the Asheville Planning and Zoning Commission and Asheville City Council.
The Asheville Citizen-Times reported that the project will be one of Himanshu Karvir’s, an Asheville hotelier whose family has owned city hotels for 30 years. The Element is a Starwood brand, one that’s a good fit for Asheville, Karvir told the newspaper.
Karvir is a member of the Buncombe County Tourism Development Authority, which oversees the spending of hotel room tax money that’s collected in the county. The money is used for marketing and advertising to increase tourism in the county.
The College Place lot is just off Town Mountain Road near the north-side entrance of Asheville’s signature mountain tunnel. The location is not that far from the new Hilton Garden Inn, which is scheduled to open in August at the corner of College and Charlotte streets.
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Does anyone actually refer to the “north” and “south” sides of that tunnel? I know you mean the “downtown” side, but I’ve always thought of the road running pretty much East-West at that location . . .
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Looks like the Starwood Element brand is “boutique extended stay”, which is different than the Hilton Garden (upscale, mid-priced, short-stay, business-focused) and the AC (“European-style boutique”, whatever that means). Call it a boutiquier version of the Homewood Suites opposite Innsbruck Mall.
Anyway, wasn’t there already an Extended Stay America near that lot that got demolished not long ago — the one you could see from 240 E if you looked towards the tunnel? It’s an area well-suited for infill development: a lot of those crappy office buildings between the interstate and College/Tunnel Road west of the tunnel could benefit from being updated and better integrated into downtown.
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Fabulous! More tourists, more people seeking the beauty of the mountains, more people choosing to live here. That oughta keep housing costs affordable! (Tongue planted firmly in cheek.)