Asheville News

Why there’s no going back on the Parkside condo proposal

Jason Sandford May 15, 2008

Jason Sandford

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

Despite the ongoing hew and cry over developer Stewart Coleman’s controversial purchase of property on Pack Square and proposal to build a condo building there, I’m here to predict that the project will happen.

It will be built, just not as it’s currently designed. Follow me:

Coleman’s project, known as the Parkside condos, has failed to meet the approval of a couple of key city committees and it has worked his way through the process such that his next stop is City Hall. His project had been scheduled to be heard by Asheville City Council in late May. Then it was rescheduled for June 11.

Look for Coleman not to push it all the way through to council. Coleman’s not stupid. He knows he doesn’t have the votes to win council’s approval.

Coleman will go back to the drawing board and scale down the building to proportions that won’t necessitate council review. He’s got an 11-story project now, but that’s too big – something small will be designed, in my opinion. He’ll design something that fits, and the city boards will give approval.

There has been some behind-the-scene discussion of Buncombe County commissioners putting together $3 million or $4 million to buy back the property from Coleman, but I don’t see a majority of commissioners agreeing to that. I just don’t see it happening.

That’s the Ashvegas prediction. Let’s watch and see.

Jason Sandford

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

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3 Comments

Ash May 15, 2008

Thanks for those thoughts, Gordon. You make excellent points.

I’m pretty much guessing here, but I do have some vague intel that Coleman plans to pull his project off the City Council June agenda.

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Gordon Smith May 15, 2008

Also, there’s this:

From Parkside, LLC:

"David Gantt and others have claimed that the County is attempting to negotiate a buy-back arrangement, yet to date no one has contacted S.B. Coleman to enter into discussions regarding a buy-back of the property."

Email from Chairman Nathan Ramsey:

"Who from Parkside LLC told you that? I think the other commissioners have stated publicly that the county would purchase the property for what they initially paid for it which is around $1.5M. As you are aware, they have substantially more than that invested in the project right now."

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Gordon Smith May 15, 2008

I think that’s entirely possible, Ash. However, what I don’t know for sure is how it works visavis the lawsuits b/w Coleman and the Pack family.

One would assume that they couldn’t break ground until a court decreed ownership, but I’m not sure.

It’s interesting that Coleman’s early intention was to trade the parkland for a valuable piece of city owned property. That is, the developers were going to give the City a piece of contested County property in exchange for one of the city’s most valuable properties.

No one can say the man doesn’t have a pair of brass ones.

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