Work begins on downtown Asheville AC Hotel

ASHEVILLE – Some 30 city leaders gathered Thursday morning at the intersection of Market Street and Langren Alley to celebrate the beginning of what will become the AC Hotel Asheville Downtown.

"I think this parking lot has served the community very well," said Erik Rowen, vice president of development for McKibbon Hotel Management, a company based in Tampa, Florida, that is a partner in the project.

"I think it's time we knock it down, so let's tear it up!" Rowen said. The crowd cheered and struggled to keep warm as a demolition vehicle tore off chunks of the 351-space BB&T parking garage, where the hotel will rise.

The group then hurried to the BB&T Building to escape windy weather with temperatures in the 30s.

The 132-room Marriott-branded hotel at 10 Broadway will be owned and managed by McKibbon, a franchise of Marriott International, Inc., based in Bethesda, Maryland. It will include a 336-space parking deck. Guests also will have access to 2,087 square feet of meeting space. The at least nine-story hotel is scheduled to open during summer 2016, Rowen said.

Traffic disturbances during construction will be kept at a minimum, Rowen said. One lane only would close on College Street and a portion of one lane would close on Broadway, he said. Any other closures would be short-term.

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Glenn Wilcox, chairman of Tower Associates, Inc., which owns and operates the BB&T Building and parking garage, said he chose to partner with McKibbon after praying over the decision.

"I asked God to send me someone equal in honesty and integrity to the way I try to live my life," Wilcox said during an interview in his building's lobby. "John McKibbon meets all the criteria. He has the experiential development knowledge that I don't."

McKibbon executives declined to provide a project cost due to the ongoing contractor-bidding process, said Lauren Bowles, a company spokeswoman.

John McKibbon did not attend the event, but said in a statement, "We are looking forward to our partnership with Glenn Wilcox to develop Marriott's newest, upscale brand in the very best location in Asheville."

Some, such as Stephanie Pace Brown, Asheville Convention and Visitors Bureau executive director, lauded the hotel's power to "transform properties downtown and enable them to reach a higher potential."

That potential would manifest itself with the enhanced "walkability" of current "dead spaces" in the neighborhood, she said. "It will activate long spaces of the streetscape."

Pace Brown also pointed out the hotel would add to the city's property-tax base.

Others, such as Rebecca Hecht, a member of Asheville's Downtown Commission and owner of Adorn Salon on College Street, were more circumspect.

"As a commission member, I want to keep an eye on how (the hotel) affects affordable housing and living wages of the hospitality workforce," Hecht said. "Everyone can enjoy the economic benefits" provided by the hotel.

Still others weren't so sure.

Robert MacMillan, 70, a downtown resident, worried that the hotel could disrupt Asheville's culture of independently-owned local businesses.

"I won't be lying in front of a bulldozer, but, in general, I don't like corporations coming in," said MacMillan, a retired elementary-school teacher and assistant principal. "It's good for our overall growth. It just changes our direction a bit."

Michael Hicks, 43, an Asheville inventor, also applauded the city's growth.

"But we don't want to lose what Asheville's known for. We have to be careful about turning into another Aspen (Colorado)."

Wesley Joins, 31, an Asheville sketch and print artist, understood those concerns, but said he makes a living from Asheville tourists like those who would stay at the hotel.

"I love them," Joins said. "Bring them on."

Lucie Manley, a McKibbon brand experience vice president, said the company chose Asheville for the project because the city has become a premier national and international destination.

"When you think about today's consumers, they want to travel as locals," Manley said.

Asheville's culinary and artistic culture offers tourists the ability to do that, she said.

The Asheville vibe was very much on Brian Bunce's mind when he designed the hotel, the architect said.

"Anything goes here; it's great," said Bunce, a founding partner of Charlotte-based BB+M Architecture. His hotel design reflected a cultural interpretation of the city more than an architectural one, Bunce said.

"It's an eclectic style."