From Staff Reports

The HVAC system for downtown Asheville’s Thomas Wolfe Auditorium has officially failed, meaning there’s no air conditioning in the seating area and, as a result, all scheduled shows there for up to nine months either will be relocated or canceled, Chris Corl, general manager of both the TWA and the 7,200-capacity civic center arena, told the Daily Planet on July 14 in a telephone interview.

Meanwhile, “Harrah’s Cherokee Center staff are building a temporary stage inside that venue with the idea that Thomas Wolfe Auditorium will be closed for repairs and the scheduled events moved,” Asheville television station WLOS (News 13) reported on July 10.

As for News 13’s reference to a “collapsing ceiling” as being among the woes at the TWA, Corl told the Daily Planet the ceiling is not collapsing — instead, at one time small pieces of ceiling plaster occasionally fell to the floor

News 13 noted that “Corl said he ran the numbers that show the venue would lose less revenue from bookings if the space was closed and repairs made rather than holding sporadic concerts. Current bookings would be moved to another venue. He said details for currently booked events are being worked on a case-by-case basis.”

The TV station also reported the following:

“‘The paint is literally peeling off the walls,’ Civic Center Commission chair Donna Bailey said during a meeting about the auditorium’s problems. ‘The ceiling is falling in. So, now we have netting over the ceiling so no one gets hurt. We have water coming through the ceiling. The loading dock’s stormwater is now failing.’

“Corl has tried to get city leaders to address deferred maintenance for years. But he said the city has a limited tax base and other priorities, leaving Thomas Wolfe Auditorium spending to go by the wayside.

“Corl said the HVAC system failed just days before a concert Monday, July 3, 2023.”

Notwithstanding, Corl told News 13 that “the parts alone for the repair are going to take us six months to get on hand.”

The TV station added, “But the reality is the city does not have the funds to maintain city-owned properties from parks to ballfields to Thomas Wolfe.”

To that end, News 13 quoted Asheville City Councilwoman Sage Turner as saying, “This (TWA) facility and the adjacent one (Harrah’s Cherokee Center) are tied up in an enterprise fund that’s a state-regulated thing that the incomes it creates go to cover its expenses.” 

The TV station added that “revenues from the venues don’t come up to the costs to keep them maintained. That’s not unusual for civic centers and music and entertainment venues run by cities. One revenue option being floated is to sell naming rights for Thomas Wolfe, much like Harrah’s Cherokee Center.

“But, there's another option.

“We have a piece of land across the street that’s been sitting idle,” Turner told News 13, referring to the large lot nicknamed “the Pit of Despair.”

Meanwhile, in a July 13 interview, Corl told the Daily Planet — with a stoic attitude — “We’re just kinda of doing it,” referring to responding to the problems at the TWA in, at least in his judgment, the most prudent way.

“We’re not able to provide a climate-controled environment within the room (the TWA auditorium),” he told the Daily Planet. “We’re actively looking for a different location for events that would happen in the next seven months and through February.”

As for why the repair of the HVAC system will take up to nine months, Corl told the Daily Planet, “The HVAC is in our attic. The attic is ‘all good’ and up to code. It’s up to the code. We’ve done repair and maintenance.

“It’s just that the parts that are broken are so large and so old that it takes a lead time to fix it.”

He added, “The area that needs repaired dates back up to the ‘30s. So the attic was not renovated when the current HVAC system was installed in the ‘70s.

“We have to get that upgraded to get the work safe for HVAC major repair to bring the attic access.

“For that (the TWA) size room (2,431 seats), there are not many places for them (shows) to perform in the area. We can book some of the acts in the arena — 6.000-plus seats)... We can do a ‘curtain cutout’ of around 2,500 seats” in the arena.

What’s more, Corl said, “We’re getting timelines (to finish the repairs) between six and nine months. We’ve got to get some stuff.. The parts have to be made... We haven’t had the opportunity to speak with council” yet.

“At the moment we’re going forward with the fastest way to get the Thomas Wolfe Auditorium to reopen. It’s not like we knew this things was going to press. This failure was big and significant and nothing we could fix quickly... The peeling paint is a challenge we’ve had through the years.”

As for a report by News 13 to the contrary, Corl said, “We don’t have a ‘collapsing ceiling. We have had (in the recent past) pieces of the plaster from the ceiling (from leaks) fall. It’s not like the ceiling is falling down. It’s more from the aesthetic. But the plaster is no longer falling because the leak causing it has been fixed... 

“It (the TWA) is an old, ‘dated’ room. It has some challenges. It needs some sprucing up, but nothing” that cannot be managed, Corl said, in concluding his interview with the Daily Planet