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Hey Guys, FYI I was being MAJORLY sarcastic, I thought that was clear….. The point was that this new hotel is loads better than the old structure, I was trolling the argument that the new development is bad, I’m all for it!!!
What’s there makes clear that the stretch of College that the AC shares with the Biltmore building is still going to be miserable at pedestrian level. McKibbon sure knows how to build parking garages. The lobby’s going to be a strange space as well, because everything that’s ‘hotel’ about the AC starts up an elevator.
It’s still a wasted opportunity to do more than replace a terrible old parking garage in the middle of downtown with a slightly less terrible parking garage in the middle of downtown.
Actually that’s not true. I’ve seen the plans and there will definitely be ground level pedestrian activity. The lobby and the addition of the hotel’s street level retail will both be oriented towards achieving this goal. McKibbon has also committed to local shops filling those spaces. So I think overall it makes great use of that property.
“there will definitely be ground level pedestrian activity”
On College, or just on Broadway? Actually, nothing in the plans suggests that it’s going to make the College section of frontage hospitable at pedestrian level: it’s mostly going to be parking deck and vehicle entrances. I’ll grant that McKibbon has said that the lobby is going to be more than just a desk and elevator to the upper hotel levels, but that’s still focused on Broadway, and leaves a chunk of downtown a dead zone.
dear mike,
Many people are like you, but you and they need to get on with the time. Id rather have some property near the new hotel/parking deck that will LIKELY make my property tax and revenue improve rather than make it look like CRAP! The old parking deck that was there was dysfunctional and would probably become a MAJOR safety hazard. Would you like to see it remain and in 5 years something goes wrong like an oversized vehicle or a weather hazard affect the structure and have it reduced to rubble potentially making other buildings unsafe and have College Street and US 25/ Broadway Street intersection INACCESSIBLE for MONTHS at a time???? Yeah ME EITHER! So you and the rest of those HIPPIES just ponder that for a while
Except that the old parking deck was incredibly unsafe/structurally deficient….
Any word on restaurants or restauranteurs that will be involved?
Jay, I haven’t heard yet.
eh – I don’t know, I kinda liked the old (pee stained) parking deck that was there before. This new construction is taking away what made Asheville great. New stuff is bad. Old run down, sketchy, scary parking decks were the heart and soul of Asheville. It’s a shame to see what these ‘developers’ are doing to our old rustic architecture. Shame on them.