The project to turn the former Brevard Lumber Co. site into a major local art hub will take another step forward soon with the opening of a multi-cultural event location.
A 10,000-square-foot metal building on King Street and an adjacent covered courtyard will be converted into The Lumberyard, “a multi-purpose facility that will have a range of activities for all ages that will include music, story telling, film and dance classes,” according to Jeff Perlman, one of four principals leading the project. …
To get the Lumberyard ready for a June 1 opening, bathrooms, a portable stage, a classroom, and an “inside/outside” bar will be added. The outside courtyard will have couches, a large movie screen and other features.
Last year, I reported on property owner Josh Leder’s plans to turn the old lumber yard into a new arts destination. From my November story for the Asheville Citizen-Times:
The Brevard Lumber Yard is the working name of a burgeoning arts district that the property owner and a host of artists, residents and town officials have high hopes for. Josh Leder of Leder Properties bought the King Street property in August for $550,000, according to him. Since then, Leder has dusted off cobwebs, spruced up sidewalks and is talking about establishing artist studios, an art gallery and an art school on the 2-acre property. Seven buildings dot the site, and could be home to a farmers market, a restaurant and a music venue.
“With today’s economy, you have to get a little creative,” the 37-year-old south Florida native said during a recent tour of the old lumber yard.
So that’s what Leder did — mainly by attracting creatives. Leder has landed one of Asheville’s most prominent art gallery owners. Chris Foley, owner of the Haen Gallery, a contemporary art gallery on Biltmore Avenue in Asheville, plans to open a new 14,000-square-foot gallery at the lumber yard. It should be up and running by February and will feature sculpture.
(The Haen Gallery has since opened in the lumber yard.)