Restaurant coming to The Wedge building in Asheville’s River Arts District

Jason Sandford August 23, 2012

Jason Sandford

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

There’s a new restaurant planned for The Wedge building in the River Arts District. Tim Schaller, the owner of Wedge Brewing, told me back in May that was the plan after he and a group of investors purchased the building.

Several artists I talked with on Wednesday also said they knew of plans for a restaurant, as well as retail shops, on the loading dock side of the building that houses artists’ working studios and galleries. The rumor is that the owner of The Admiral restaurant is planning to be a part of the new restaurant. That’s unconfirmed at this point.

The artists being told to move because of the new ventures include Heather Knight and Ben Betsalel. Heather is moving to new space on Depot Street. Betsalel, who was apparently already planning a move, is headed to Ethiopia.

The movement is causing a little upset among some artists and some observers of Asheville’s art scene. The Wedge building helped put the River Arts District on the map as an artists’ haven. Some don’t want anything to change there. Others see the changes as an evolution.

The Mountain Xpress has a nice piece here on Betsalel’s new show, a look at the investors who recently bought the building.

More to come on this.

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Jason Sandford

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

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8 Comments

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indie August 24, 2012

I’ve lived in a number of places. Asheville has more “progressives” resistant to change than any city I’ve experienced.

Cities are organic and need to evolve to be sustained and vibrant.

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1. Douglas Ewen August 25, 2012
  
  True, a city needs to expand and grow otherwise it will die. I look forward to this new development and plan on spending plenty of $’s there.
  
  Reply
Boba August 24, 2012

No seriously, this could be great because combining a kick ass restaurant with the Wedge Brewery would mean maybe renovating more buildings down there and fixing up that busted ass parking lot and making that area nicer. Sorry artists, spread your wings and fly!

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bob August 23, 2012

maybe now they’ll finally re-gravel the lot. wedge is the death of my car’s shocks.

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Heather August 23, 2012

Many people in this community, other than the new owners of the Wedge building, are interested in preserving the neighborhood and supporting the arts and artists. Hopefully, someone will here our cries before its too late.

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Jeff August 23, 2012

That’s three artist spaces on the Wedge Brewery side of the building and two spaces on the Roberts St. side. Those losing their spaces on the Roberts St. side are Marston Blow’s Ceramic Song Studio and ARTeries By Stina. Marston has been in that space going on 16 years (!)

It’s sad to see these anchors of the River Arts District getting the boot.

Reply
ouch August 23, 2012

F***ing gentrification….word is that 2 artists got evicted to make room for this. What is going to protect the artists in this city from rising rents and development?

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