Asheville Parking Deck of Stalled South Slope Development is Now Open

Asheville Parking Deck of Stalled South Slope Development is Now Open

Asheville drivers quietly got many more places to park near downtown. Where are they?

For months, a hulking six-story parking deck in downtown’s South Slope sat vacant. It was completed as part of a large-scale apartment complex that was halted midway through the project — leaving a finished, but empty, parking garage and a construction site frozen in time. Only recently has the garage opened for public parking.

Additional Parking in South Slope

There’s little signage on the building aside from illuminated “parking” lettering over the entrance. Both permit details and Google maps dub it “Ironwood Parking Garage,” though no name or phone number, aside from a local towing company, is displayed on the building. Local business owners in the South Slope, an area replete with restaurants, breweries, and bars, are grateful for the additional parking. The nearest deck, county-owned Coxe Avenue Garage, is too long a trek for some, particularly people with mobility issues or parents with strollers.

Still, the deck overlooks an empty lot. At 45 Federal Alley, the adjacent property between Coxe and Asheland avenues is fenced off and bare. A look at the city’s permit website shows no recent filings for either parcel. The city’s principal planner Will Palmquist said he is not aware of any updates on the project since the city issued a Temporary Certificate of Occupancy for the garage. Officials with the developer, Tribute Investment and Development Inc., of Wilmington — including CEO Mark Maynard and his son Matt Maynard, co-executive investment and development director — did not return multiple messages.

Stalled Project Background

It was four years ago that Tribute got a go-ahead 5-1 vote by City Council for the project on Asheland and Coxe avenues in the city’s brewery district. (The one council member to vote “no,” Sheneika Smith, called the project “massive” and said it would disrupt the city bus system whose main station is nearby.) Changes in 2020 put it at 44,199 square feet of commercial space along, the 574-space parking deck and 474 apartments with 48 units guaranteed as affordable. But the pandemic stalled the project and instability in the ground on which it was being built killed it.

The more than 4 acres for which Tribute paid $10.3 million in 2019 was put up for sale, apparently with the idea that another developer would step in. Property records show the parking garage parcel, and the several tracts adjoining it, are all still owned by Tribute. The developer owns other nearby South Slope properties as well.

Future Uncertainty

While Antoncic is celebrating new nearby parking access, particularly in the hopes it will drive more locals downtown, she said it’s not a long-term solution. With the status of the apartment project and property unclear, there’s no assurance how long the deck will be available for public parking. In the meantime, she said, it’s up to the city to develop a parking plan for the South Slope, which will be “crucial” to the district’s future.

While massive, the entrance to the deck is tucked away on Federal Alley, a small road that dips off of Coxe Avenue. Despite being in their backyard, she said, there hasn’t been much publicity for the garage, and until you witness cars coming in and out — interfacing only with an automated Designa parking system — it’s not completely clear the deck is open. The rate runs at $2 an hour, the first 15 minutes free. The daily maximum is $20. It’s comparable to city garages, though in July, the city’s maximum will drop to $15. County parking decks are $2 for the first hour, then an additional $1 per hour after that for a daily max of $12.

Several spots are reserved for The Lofts at South Slope, apartments located a block away, also in a Tribute-owned building. In February, the only promotion seemed to be a yard sign stuck at the corner, which said, “GARAGE NOW OPEN” in block letters.

“Hopefully you all just parked in this new private deck,” Mayor Esther Manheimer said in a speech at nearby Eulogy, thanking Tribute for, “at least for now,” allowing people to use the deck.

Community Response and Future Concerns

Kevan Frazier, an owner of Well Played Board Game Café, a nearby bar and restaurant, said he was thrilled the deck was open. Like Antoncic, he said parking was a pressing need for the district. The deck is ultimately intended for the apartments, so when those are built, Frazier said he doesn’t know if there will be excess parking for public spaces to continue serving South Slope. That said, he would love to see the apartments move forward.