Jason Sandford
Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.
Some of what’s going around:
-Asheville entrepreneur heading to NYC: Craig McAnsh, owner of Mojo Coworking in downtown Asheville and one of the city’s most influential entrepreneurs, has announced he and his wife are moving to New York City. McAnsh has accepted a leadership position with RPMC/Red Peak Group, a global agency that creates immersive brands and branded experiences for clients around the world. The job starts April 1. From Craig on FB:
Living in New York City has been a dream of ours and the time is now right to fulfill it. There’s no doubt we’re in store for some big changes ahead, but we feel more than ready for this next phase in our lives. We will continue to be back and forth between NYC and AVL over the next few months and hope to see as many Ashevillan friends as possible before officially departing. And, be on the lookout for details about a little going-away shindig at MojoCoworking sometime in March.
Speaking of Mojo Coworking. In addition to our family, friends, colleagues and neighbors … we will especially miss the amazing members and friends of Mojo Coworking and the awesome collaborative community you have all helped build. We’re definitely not giving up our Mojo. The business will be in good hands here and will continue to grow (and expand) in support of social, creative and entrepreneurial energy. Long live Mojo.
About five years ago, Craig helped organize the Hatch Asheville, a creative arts festival focused on fostering creative people in several disciplines. He opened Mojo Coworking in 2011, providing much-needed space for entrepreneurs. He’s also been active in pushing a number of other entrepreneurial efforts in Asheville.
Craig has an extensive background in marketing, and this new move sounds like he’ll be right at home doing what he loves. Good luck, Craig. You’ll be missed here in Asheville.
-Word on the street: OM Sanctuary at Richmond Hill is working with local officials on a conservation easement that will preserve a large chunk of the property it owns. Stay tuned for more.
-Chair shop in the RAD: A chair caning shop opened by Brandy Clements and Dave Klingler five years ago in the River Arts District has a new home, Clements announced via Facebook. The new location is nearby at Curve Studios. Clements also announced that she’s creating “a chair caning school and museum called Silver River Center for Chair Caning, the only chair caning school in the nation.”
-New residential condos in downtown Asheville move ahead: Demolition of a building at 45 Asheland Ave. in downtown Asheville is planned as Asheville architect/developer Peter Alberice and his business partner (and co-owner of the property) Robert Camille move ahead with plans to build a 7-story residential condo building on the site. (The building was the former home to ARC Document Solutions and sits across from the downtown bus station.)
Alberice says the new building, called 45 Asheland, will contain 35 residential condo units. Most will be 2-bedroom/2-bath and will range in size from 1,050 square feet to 1,600 square feet. They will sell for $380 to $420 per square foot (pre-construction pricing.) There will be two retail units at ground level. One is a restaurant that has been pre-leased. The other will likely be a coffee shop. Alberice, who developed the residential condos at 12 S. Lexington Ave., plans to break ground this spring.
-Asheville Outlets stores: More retail outlets coming to the new Asheville Outlets, set to open May 1 in the former Biltmore Square Mall location: Vera Bradley, Zales, Vanity Fair, Kitchen Collection, Pandora Jewelry.
-Wild Wing parking lot: The owner of Wild Wing on Biltmore Avenue in Asheville has purchased the Foam and Fabric building, which is adjacent to Foam and Fabric, which closed earlier this year.
-New summer concert series: A new summer entertainment series for Pack Square Park will be announced soon. The music and entertainment will be held on Sundays in May, June and July.
-Bringing it Home conference: Asheville Grown is partnering with Self-Help Asheville for March conference called Bringing it Home focused on building local economy. The event will be held at the Enka-Candler campus of A-B Tech on March 18. The event features a slew of local speakers.
-Anam Cara Theatre: Anam Cara Theatre is remounting Farmer Dave’s Bicycle-Powered Dream World: A Biotech Whodunit. The theatre has expanded upon the show after a successful run at the Asheville Fringe Festival and is bringing it to Toy Boat for two weekends: 2/27, 2/28, 3/6, and 3/7.
-Highland happenings: Here’s what’s happening at Highland Brewing this week:
There will be two film nights in the tasting room this week. On Wednesday night, we have Orvis & Hunter Banks presenting a fly fishing film. Tickets are $10 and that includes 2 drinks tickets. There will also be a raffle and some great prizes.
On Thursday, we host the Reel Paddling Film Festival that showcases the world’s best paddling films. Tickets are $15.
On Friday we release the Mount Mitchell Malt Liquor. Golden hay in color, crisp and clear, at 7.2% this easy drinking ale displays inviting esters on the nose, intense malty sweetness and flavors reminiscent of hominy or down-home corn meal. The finish is sweet and smooth, with faint notes of moonshine warmth as it fades.
How about some housing? You know, the kind where people who will be working at all the trendy hotels can live?
Oh right, we don’t do that kind of housing in Asheville.
But we do have that housing… it’s called section 8…
Disregard my previous post, I see that there will be 42 spaces…
A recent article in the CT suggested that there would be no “on-site parking” included with this project on Asheland: is that still the case; and if so, how does the city justify not mandating parking with all new development in the city center where parking is already past a premium?
Is it me or does the Mount Mitchell Malt Liquor description sound just a wee bit kitschy, L.L. Beanean……….?
It brought a subtle but whimsical upward curl to my lips as the tip of my tongue dabbed the waning remnant of its moonshine warmth from my mustache.
A half-mil for a view of the bus depot and the hookers on Hilliard? Awesome.
Check out this posting of “Unit 603″… includes photos of the area and floorplans – but also the recent criminal activity (scroll down a bit)… it is a VERY high crime area…
http://www.trulia.com/property/3104362749-45-Asheland-Ave-603-Asheville-NC-28801#photo-11
Their website shows 9 or 10 guest parking spots and 1 per condo. Given the lack of parking already in that area, this is going to get interesting.
No, a half-mil for the convenience of downtown. Anyone who’d want that is probably savvy enough to handle what little crime Asheville has. People here love to pretend we’re the next Camden, New Jersey or East St. Louis, but we’re a small city with small city problems. People who think otherwise really need to get out more.