RADBA meetings will resume in Spring 2024 via Google Meet
RADBA meets the last Tuesday of every month except November & December! @ 4 to 5pm somewhere in the River Arts District or virtually… thanks for caring about the RAD! Hope to see you at our next meeting!
Looking for a RADBA MEMBERSHIP?
Our Membership year goes from July 1st to June 30th! These funds work to keep the RAD in good working order! Thanks in advance for your support!
New River Water Quality App
WHATSAPP RAD Neighborhood Watch
Sign up here to join the WhatsApp* RAD Neighborhood Watch. You will receive messages regarding incidents as reported by our community and can report any of your own issues as well so it gets on the RADBA radar. We will be doing a walk around the RAD with APD in the near future! *Requires app download on your device. RADBA had a great walk thru with APD, the Mayor and numerous city council candiates on Monday, May 9th, 2022… will be a report at the May RADBA meeting.
UPDATE: @ the Dave Steel Site : Not a whole lot of activity on this site due to some permitting / utility issues. No word yet on when they will resume. There is now a website for this project! with Construction Updates!
Temporary road way and asphalt sidewalk for our use until perhaps as late as May 2023
STONEYARD PROJECT
Pretty rendering of the ‘Stoneyard Mulit Family Project” approved by Asheville City Council unanimously on Dec 13, 2022. Slated to start in Spring 2023
BRIDGE PROJECT
ASHEVILLE – A bridge rehabilitation project will temporarily alter traffic on a bridge in the River Arts District beginning as early as Feb. 19. (2022)
A contractor of the N.C. Department of Transportation will place traffic in a one-lane pattern with temporary traffic signals on either side of a bridge on Haywood Road. NHM Constructors of Asheville is rehabilitating three bridges — including this bridge over the French Broad River — as part of a $4.59 million contract.
Improvements to this bridge include joint repairs, substructure repairs, fresh paint and a newly constructed concrete surface, plus new traffic markings and symbols. The contract calls for completion of the repairs by October. These repairs will extend the service life of each structure. The Haywood Road Bridge was built in 1974. The bridge on Patton Cove Road was built in 1970, and the other bridge in the contract, on Dunsmore Avenue, was built in 1979.
For real-time travel information, visit DriveNC.gov or follow NCDOT on social media.
if you have questions about this NC DOT project , their contact person is Tim Anderson and his contact information is twanderson@ncdot.gov.
Late August 2022 Update : so all the priming and painting and resurfacing is completed from what we can see… not sure why it isn’t back open already but perhaps not too much longer folks! At least our bridge will not fall down any time soon!
River Arts Apartments
Above is the rendering of the new tentatively named “River Arts Apartments” to be located on the old Dave Steel site @ the 5 points roundabout @ Roberts Street and Clingman Ave Extension… below is an overview of the plan footprint… The proposed hard close of Roberts Street from just south of North Carolina Glass to just north of the roundabout from March 2022 - March 2023 did not happen thanks to RADBA & the City of Asheville & Brian Schick of Woodfield Developement. Roberts Street is now one way north to south road! In addition, Brian Schick says that Woodfield Development will maintain pedestrian connections between the Wedge /NC Glass and the rest of the RAD throughout the project construction. Please know that this project when completed will actually have around 375 parking spaces, 60 of which will be available to the public… so we end up with more parking… but that is a few years off as this is a 26 month project starting now! so thru May 2024.
The ground breaking celebration for “The Radical”, a new 70 room boutique hotel w/ restaurant and roof top bar happened January 19, 2022 @ 95 Roberts Street… so this is project #2 starting in the RAD in 2022… there are at least two more we expect to also start in 2022! The time line for this project sounds like 18 months starting now… will share more info as it becomes available.
The 3rd of the 4 development projects we see coming our way is @ 31 Artful Way… by the same developer who just finished the 26 unit building behind NC Glass… just a bit further up the hill… their permit says : A request for the review of a Level II site plan to develop 34 residential units, 27 lodging units, 1,472 square feet of retail space and 42 parking spaces (including 2 HC spaces) contained within one 6-story building on 0.74 acres known as PINs 9648-07-3584; 3623. The address for the property is 31 Artful Way. The property owner is Artful Asheville, LLC and the project contact is Suzanne Godsey, PLLC.
159 / 144 Riverside Drive 134 unit apartment Project passed Design Review on June 3rd… and Planning and Zoning on a 5 to 1 vote in July…an approved byAsheville City Council on August 24th, 2021 by a vote of 5 to 2. RADBA shared a letter of support for this project.
The 4th project we are expecting to see getting started this year is the new 134 unit apartment complex @ 159 Riverside Drive just north of the Historic Cotton Mill Studios. They have their own website so check in there for more info! Here is what used to stand on this property! same smoke stack!
SECOND GEAR / SUGAR & SNOW ARE OPEN!
Second Gear has moved and is now open in its new home! Many thanks are due to our supportive community and visitors to Asheville. This past year, our business has overcome challenges with creative team work, patience, and the ability to adapt. We have experienced remarkable growth in recent years and after nearly 18 years in West Asheville we have outgrown our space at 444 Haywood Road. We are now located at 99 Riverside Drive in Asheville’s River Arts District! The continued support Second Gear has received has resulted in over $4,000,000 paid in consignment fees to approximately 11,000 consignors.
We continue to offer the same friendly service at our upgraded location, offering an even larger selection of used and new gear and services in over 10,000 square feet. In our newly renovated and transformed building on Riverside Drive, we have collaborated with Sugar and Snow Gelato, who will provide gelato, lite bites and beverages in their cafe and with Asheville Adventure Company, who offer biking, paddling, and hiking tours. We are thrilled to be part of the River Arts District while staying close to our West Asheville roots!
RADVIEW is ready for leasing! find links to information here
read about the new APD Community Engagement Division HERE!
a photo of the corner of what now is a five way circle! looking onto the Dave Steel site before there was a River Arts District and if you notice, before the WEDGE was built! which would end up all the way to the left in this image! This location is supposed to become a mixed use 238 apartment complex with underground parking and is supposed to start construction this fall!
This summer, Hi-Wire Brewing plans to open a third Asheville, N.C. location in the city’s River Arts District (RAD) just down the road from the brewery’s Big Top Production Brewery and Taproom as well as its original location and current specialty brewery and taproom on Asheville’s South Slope. The new venue – which will bring Hi-Wire up to a total of seven taprooms – will be unlike any of its others in that the bulk of the facility will be dedicated to a large distribution center while the taproom portion will be an outdoor beer garden constructed from upcycled shipping containers.
The motivation for this Asheville expansion is “in short, growth!” according to Chris Frosaker, Hi-Wire Brewing co-owner. Frosaker continues, “We’re simply out of storage space at the Big Top.” Since Hi-Wire’s Big Top Production Brewery opened near Asheville’s Biltmore Village in 2016, the company has added an additional eight states to its distribution roster outside of North Carolina as well as opened three taprooms outside of Asheville with a fourth currently in progress in Louisville, KY. While the Big Top brewery has room to grow in production volume, the warehousing, shipping, and receiving departments are over capacity, so this dedicated distribution facility will create more space for the production team and in turn make shipping more efficient for the company.
Located at 282 Lyman St, the new 25,233-square-foot distribution center is roughly the same size as Hi-Wire’s production brewery at Big Top located about six minutes away. The RAD location was the closest large and available building that the company could find in relation to Hi-Wire Big Top. “The fact that this perfect building is located in the heart of the River Arts District, which just received a massive infrastructure investment and a new greenway is icing on the cake,” Frosaker says. Once it is up and running, all shipping and receiving as well as storage of bulk packaging and brewing materials will move from Big Top to the new distribution center. A 5,250-square-foot cooler will be constructed inside the building to accommodate cold storage. Hi-Wire’s Big Top facility will continue to be the company headquarters and where all major beer production occurs while the South Slope Specialty Brewery will remain the company’s creative hub featuring its pilot system as well as sour and wild ale program.
The Hi-Wire RAD taproom, featuring a twenty-four-tap bar, will only account for around 2500-square-feet of the building itself while an additional 5000-square-foot beer garden composed of nine repurposed metal shipping containers will be situated in front of the facility to the right side. The containers’ walls will be cut out to create open-air seating, but the roofs will remain to provide sun and weather protection. Once constructed, this unique beer garden will seat roughly 350 people, and the open atmosphere will offer ample opportunities for outdoor event programming. “I definitely envision live music and festivals here,” Frosaker said of the beer garden, and he suggested that Hi-Wire will likely move all large events typically held at the Big Top taproom to the new RAD location once it is open. As is the case with the brewery’s Big Top and South Slope taprooms, the RAD container beer garden will have the same fun, relaxed, and approachable vibe just in a new, eclectic outdoor setting. While the brewery has expanded well beyond Asheville and North Carolina, Hi-Wire’s mission with the addition of this third Asheville location is to continue strengthening its local community. “We’re thankful to provide more jobs to the city and create a gathering place for locals and visitors alike,” said Javier Bolea, Hi-Wire’s creative director.
With the launch of the newest location creating extra space at Big Top, Hi-Wire intends to update the brewery’s “home” taproom near Biltmore Village as well. Interactive games like soccer pool, colorful new murals, an expanded beer garden, and increased seating will all be added at Big Top following Hi-Wire RAD’s opening. Frosaker expresses, “This new distribution center is an investment in the future and will allow us to continually and aggressively grow. Hi-Wire is in this for the long haul and will continue to grow sales and plant roots in the communities we work in.”
Hi-Wire has partnered with Asheville’s Red House Architecture and Vaden Custom to design and build the space, and construction is slated to finish in summer 2021. Formal announcements in regards to construction, hiring, and an official opening date will be released via Hi-Wire’s website and social media channels. For the most up-to-date information, visit hiwirebrewing.com or follow Hi-Wire Brewing on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.