From Staff Reports

 The possible good and bad outcomes associated with urban revitalization efforts were explored, using Asheville’s River Arts District as a point of conversation, on Nov. 19 in Lenoir-Rhyne University’s Asheville Boardroom.

The meeting was part of the Blue Ridge Sustainability Institute’s Green Monday series, funded by a grant from Progress Energy, with support from the Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce and Purplecat Networks.

The topic for the panel discussion, which included questions and comments from the audience, was “The (un?)Sustainability of Revitalization in Asheville’s River Arts District.” About 65 people attended, packing the room to a standing-room-only status.

Urban Planner Stephanie Monson Dahl moderated what was billed as “a group of diverse panelists in a conversation about the meaning and impact of tax valuation, the definition of a place through its people, how we do or don’t value the arts, and the impact of human development of the natural environment.

“The panelists will use data and stories from our own communities or elsewhere to increase the collective understanding of what we can do to make our revitalization efforts more sustainable in the future.

The panelists included Cindy Weeks, Robert Camille and Joe Minicozzi. Also scheduled to serve on the panel was Kitty Love, but she was unable to participate.

Weeks is community investment manager of Mountain Housing Opportunities and served as project manager of 372 Depot, which provies 60 units of “affordable housing” and 9,000 square feet of commercial space in the RAD.

Camille is an entrepreneur who is growing an architectural salvage business, Blue Ridge Surplus. He owns 13 acres in the RAD and is working “to establish his vision of Asheville’s future” there. He is billed as an expert in redevelopment projects and process.

Minicozzi, a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners, is the principal of Urban3, LLC. He is billed as an expert in urban design and redevelopment analytics.

Speaking first, Minicozzi asked, rhetorically, “If we didn’t have billboards and instead had (population) density ... what would happen?

His answer was “you’d get four times the tax value,” along with greater density.

Minicizzi noted there are two values on property  — “the value of the dirt and the value of the building sitting on top of the dirt.”  He also warned of the “law of unintended consequences,” alluding to the tendency for gentrification to occur in an improving area.

Camille said he and his wife moved to Asheville in 1986 and, between them, they “didn’t have two nickels to rub together.”

They lived downtown because it was cheaper then “and it was all we could afford.”

As they prospered, “we bought a few buildings” downtown. “We didn’t realize what were were doing to it. We were gentrifying it ... .

“I asked, ‘Where’s the next place all these people are going to go?’ I figured the river. So we got (bought) about 13 acres down there ... I really think the people who are making the waterfront a cool place are going to get priced out. I hate it for those people,” Camille said.

Weeks said that, through Mountain Housing Opportunities that she runs, “we started out fixing homes for elderly homeowners. Now we’re also doing community investments.”

She added, “I’m from Pittsburgh and was able to watch the transformation of the riverfront there,” which proved helpful for her in the RAD.

At that point, Weeks noted that the Biltmore Station “was really built for the Vanderbilt family. The Asheville Station behind 372 Depot Street (in the RAD) is where most people came into Asheville.”

She spoke of the Glen Rock Depot and Apartments that she developed in the RAD with pride.

She said Glen Rock has 82 “affordable apartments upstairs,” renting in the range of $350 for a one-bedroom to $650 for a three-bedroom. When it opened, she received 5,000 applications for the 82 apartments, Weeks said, adding that “we’re private and affordable.” She also noted that the downstairs, which is for commercial tenants, “filled up slower.”

Weeks asserted, “It’s important to me for the riverfront to return to its raw and gritty quality, without pricing people out.”

At Glen Rock, she said, “it’s got about every environmental feature you could want on a building.”

However, Weeks expressed concern about “raising taxes, gentrification and all of that ... It’s really difficult to get bank to invest in an area like this.”

Minicozzi then showed some property values of downtown Asheville, with a taxable average of $2 million per acre, while the RAD would be, perhaps, $375,000 per acre. He noted that there had been an $11 million investment in improvements recently on Depot Street in the RAD.

“A lot of that value is generated by artists in there and investing,” he said. “One of the unique aspects was the presence of so many artists ... They used to be downtown,” until it became too expensive for them.

Camille said, “There are more experimental artists out there. They’re just pushing the envelope” with their work ... I’d like to see what we private sector people can do ... I don’t think it’s the city’s responsibility to do something.”

Weeks replied, “What I’ve seen down there is some of the tenants who are artists letting their buildings run down.

“I haven’t seen anyone down there trying to make a killing (financially), with lease rates. 

Camille said, “I think that’s exactly what happened (in) downtown” Asheville. “What we don’t have in RAD is the density of downtown. It is a natural progression and rents will have to go up.”