Uncertainty over Ramada Inn’s future following failed housing conversion and foreclosure

Uncertainty over Ramada Inn’s future following failed housing conversion and foreclosure

Asheville, N.C. – News 13 is learning more on what’s to come for the Ramada Inn after a failed attempt to turn the property into permanent supportive housing in Asheville.

On Thursday morning, Nikki Reid, the city’s director of community and economic development presented an update on the state of the Ramada Inn at the Homeless Initiative Advisory Committee.

But to understand where we are now, Reid said that it was important to revisit how we got here.

A Failed Attempt at Transforming Ramada Inn

“Our community experienced this unprecedented increase in unsheltered homelessness during the COVID-19 pandemic,” she said.

Because of that, in the summer of 2021 Reid said that the city responded by planning to purchase the Ramada Inn as an emergency shelter.

But later that fall, Reid said that it became clear that the city would not be able to secure the needed resources to move forward with that project.

“At that time the city could have walked away from that plan to purchase the property but instead the city assigned its real estate contract to the developer Shangri-La,” she said.

The intention was for Shangri-La to turn the property into permanent supportive housing.

With Shangri-La in this role, Reid said that the city no longer provided the funds to support the acquisition of the property. They purchased the property around the end of 2022, and that’s when the city took out a deed restriction on it.

Foreclosure and Future Uncertainty

“The deed restriction restricts the hotel property for use as permanent supportive housing and that’s a 50-year deed restriction,” she explained.

In 2023, Reid said that’s when things began to change as they heard that Shangri-La needed to refinance the property to complete the renovations.

“Shangri-La has fallen through, the property went into foreclosure, and so now where it stands is that the lender is the full owner of the property, so the foreclosure has completed,” she explained.

She said that the city was disappointed to see this outcome but as they look at what the next steps are, that’s where the deed restriction comes into play.

“It will continue to govern the use of the property,” she said.

Also, the initial funding the city had obligated towards this project was never used. Those funds include $500,000 in ARPA funds and $1 million in city dollars.

“It will be the city council’s responsibility to take action on that funding,” she said. “So working backwards from what that looks like when city council votes around that funding is what we have yet to really figure out.”

Looking Towards the Future

While the city council will ultimately make the decision, Reid said that they’re looking towards HIAC for input on how to get there.

“That’s the other piece of this that I think is so appropriate for the CoC is leading together the supportive service element, the funding from other vouchers that comes through as well as the city’s role in this how all that fits together,” she said.

Reid said that what is important to note is that the city has not lost the opportunity for permanent supportive housing; it’s just a matter of figuring out who is the appropriate party to be able to buy the property and renovate it into permanent supportive housing.

“How can we take this setback and then lean into that CoC framework and help us deliver perhaps a better project than what was previously planned,” she expressed.