ZaPow! Gallery, which lost its lease on its Battery Park Avenue space several weeks back, has signed a new lease for a bigger location in a new apartment building on Coxe Avenue in the heart of Asheville’s booming South Slope district.
The gallery owners, Matt Johnson and Lauren Patton, made news in June when they announced their their landlord had proposed a stiff rent increase for their current location on the ground floor of the 21 Battery Park condo building. It’s a spot they’ve been in for four years. It’s also a spot right next door to a large new hotel that’s under construction.
The couple launched a gofundme crowdfunding campaign to help offset costs of the quick move (to date it has raised more than $11,000) and immediately began a search for a new location.
Matt Johnson tells me their new spot at 150 Coxe Ave. (across Coxe Avenue from Wicked Weed’s Funkatorium and across Buxton Avenue from Twin Leaf Brewing) will be about 3,100 square feet, which is significantly larger than their current location. The larger space will allow them to showcase more artists in their gallery, which features illustration art.
ZaPow expects to be open at the new location by mid-October.