From Staff Reports 

ASHEVILLE, N.C. — Asheville City Council unanimously voted Oct. 13 to approve conditional rezoning and technical modifications for Western North Carolina’s first Costco wholesale development.

Project details and location include the following:

• Location: A roughly 25-acre retail footprint (part of a 39.6-acre site) at Enka Commerce Park spanning 264 and 274 Enka Heritage Parkway and 1455 Sand Hill Road (near Candler and West Asheville).

• Facility: A 168,258-square-foot warehouse featuring groceries, an optical center, and automotive/tire services, alongside a 32-pump fuel station.

• Parking and infrastructure: 914 surface parking spaces (with flexibility up to 950), 50 bicycle spaces, a 10-foot multimodal path, and the preservation of the historic Enka Clock Tower with a public plaza.

• Jobs and economicimpact: Projected to create 225 to 250 jobs on day one, scaling to over 400 positions upon full build-out, with an estimated $250 million in annual sales volume (built with zero taxpayer or economic development incentives).

Key debates and adjustments were as follows:

• Tree canopy: Asheville City Council approved an adjustment to the city’s Tree Canopy Preservation requirement from 15 percent to 13 percent (reaching an effective 16 percent when counting adjacent county-line protected trees and more than 700 new planted trees), accounting for brownfield soil restrictions.

• Traffic: A 2025 traffic study indicated local corridors like Smoky Park Highway could see traffic increase by up to 55 percent, requiring ongoing coordination with the North Carolina Department of Transportation.

The timeline and next steps are as follows:

• Next phase: Review and final sign-off by the city’s Technical Review Committee and permitting phase, expected to wrap up by spring 2027.

• Construction and opening: Developers aim to break ground in summer 2027, targeting an official opening in spring 2028.