Asheville Citizen Times to Relocate from Downtown Building After 85 Years

ASHEVILLE – The city has that distinctive skyline, backlit by the Blue Ridge Mountains and dipped in the French Broad Valley: The rust-colored dome of City Hall sparkles in sunlight next to the old County Courthouse, the stately Jackson Building towers over Pack Square, not far from the former BB&T building — at 19 stories, the city’s tallest “skyscraper.” Just to the northwest of downtown, there’s the “wedding cake”-designed Grove Arcade. It sits directly across the street from the iconic Citizen-Times building at 14 O. Henry Ave. Erected in 1939 of concrete and glass block to house the morning Asheville Citizen and the afternoon Asheville Times newspapers, which later merged to form the Citizen Times.

But seasons, times, and skylines change. The BB&T building is now the Hotel Arras, a new glass-walled County Courthouse slightly outshines its predecessor. And while a vinyl press, bar, and café several years ago replaced a once lively – and sometimes rowdy – newsroom on the first floor, the Citizen Times has still continuously operated from the building for the past 85 years. That chapter of Asheville’s history closes this month. The Citizen Times newsroom will vacate the second floor of 14 O. Henry, which we have been renting after our parent company Gannett sold the building to local investors in 2018 when our lease expires March 31.

Moving Forward While Preserving History

“Despite this move, the Citizen Times remains focused on covering Asheville and Buncombe County,” said Mark Russell, South Region editor and executive editor. “We will continue to put resources into local news coverage, and the exit from the newspaper’s longtime downtown building does not indicate a lessening of our zeal to cover the community.”

As the Citizen Times executive editor, I can assure our readers that this paper will continue our mission to inform and empower people and to hold those in power accountable. Our current staff, which continues to grow, will keep up our important work. This newspaper was established in 1870 as a member of the Fourth Estate – that institution enshrined in the First Amendment to the Constitution, the one that serves as a pillar to a properly functioning democracy, one that calls out injustices, shines a spotlight on solutions, gives a voice to the voiceless, and works toward building stronger communities.

Memories of a Historic Building

This is admittedly far from a happy moment for the current Citizen Times staff and an especially sad one for me. I came from working at newspapers in Montana and Idaho and Arizona to Asheville in 2000 when the internet was still a toddler and social media not even an embryo. I was a former National Park Service ranger with a master’s in journalism, so excited to blend my passions of writing and nature as the outdoors reporter in the beating heart of outdoor heaven, and how apropos on a street named after O. Henry!

It was a time when the printing press had already left the building but we were still bursting with journalistic activity and audacity — every floor was filled, from advertising to accounting, and the newsroom had so many departments, from features to photography, news and design, copy editing and opinion, and we had a working library complete with librarians. There were times when the newsroom was so full we had to move reporters and their desks into hallways.

The Importance of a Trusted Source

The Citizen Times has been the newspaper of record, the constant chronicler of Asheville history for more than 150 years. We were recently able to safely secure the preservation of our precious photo archives by donating them to UNC Asheville’s Ramsey Library. The rest of the archives, including 100-year-old newspaper clippings, will remain with us when we move to new digs.

Continuing the Mission

With the advent of social media, bloggers, and online-only news sites, daily newspapers — those that separate their news sources from their funders and compete for ad dollars — are on the decline, many having curtailed their print products or closed altogether. But the Citizen Times and our staff of passionate, brave, non-compromising journalists are not going anywhere.

I have never been prouder to work with such a group of talented colleagues — the people, after all, are the lifeblood of a daily newspaper. We will keep telling the stories that need to be told, no matter how uncomfortable they are for the comfortable, no matter the shade we’re thrown, or the threats we receive — and there are plenty. This newspaper has been that trusted source for the truth throughout its history.

Preserving Memories

The building’s owner told me he intends to keep the “Citizen-Times” sign on the iconic building. That brings me some sense of peace, to know all those decades of memories will still have a solid “home.” But it also reminds me that a city is more than a skyline and a newspaper is more than a building. It’s the people, it’s living, and breathing and changing but always moving forward and working for change.