News from the South - North Carolina News Feed
Salvage Station eyeing Weaverville location? Entire Grove Park Inn closed for private use? • Asheville Watchdog
Today’s round of questions, my smart-aleck replies and the real answers:
Question: Regarding Salvage Station, are the rumors true that they signed a deal to move into the old Sonopress facility/outdoor space up here in Weaverville? Word is the town approved the deal late last year.
My answer: Word is I’m hitting the lottery this weekend. Boyle out! Please, stop the cheering!
Real answer: The rumor mill has been spinning hard on this one, but no deal has been inked yet.
Katie Hild, marketing director for Salvage Station, the popular outdoor concert venue formerly located at 466 Riverside Drive near the River Arts District, told me she and founder/owner Danny McClinton continue to look for a new home. The former Sonopress building remains in the running, but it’s far from a done deal.
Salvage Station was going to have to move this year because of eminent domain and the NCDOT plopping the new I-26 Connector through part of the land it leased. But then Tropical Storm Helene added a double whammy Sept. 27 when it flooded the premises and damaged most of its equipment.

“We have not signed anything,” Hild said. “We are not committed to Weaverville. Post-Helene, the reality is the landscape of our whole region has changed, and we’re just trying to get a better sense of what that looks like before we make a big commitment.”
Hild and McClinton have looked at the former Sonopress facility and liked what they saw, as it offers potential for an indoor/outdoor space. As Hild said, “It’s a huge building, a huge piece of property.”
The building owners are trying to make it an art and commercial space, and a community asset, Hild said, and that’s appealing, too.
“So that’s the vision, and having something like Salvage Station be the cornerstone of that would be absolutely a boon for the whole area,” Hild said. “It’s just a matter of it working out, if it’s feasible financially.”
Weaverville is still in the running, Hild said.
“We are still excited about that space,” Hild said. “We just haven’t made a commitment yet, because we’re still trying to pick up the pieces from what we were dealt with Helene.”
Weaverville Mayor Patrick Fitzsimmons told me Thursday that he was under the impression that Salvage Station had plans to move into what’s now called the Park 108 building, formerly known as Sonopress. But he also said he hadn’t talked with McClinton “for a couple of months.”

“We certainly would love for them to come to town,” Fitzsimmons said. “I know that I’ve met with Danny and Katie at the Park 108, and we thought that was in the works, but obviously some things may have come up. But let’s hope that they still choose to come here.”
If they do, Fitzsimmons noted, the transition should be smooth.
“So there is no permitting or requirements that the town would require for that building,” Fitzsimmons said. “So, I hope they’re still interested in that, that they’re still coming. The plans, I thought, were farther down the line than that.”
The Park 108 building dates to 1984 and has an appraised value of $10.6 million, according to Buncombe County property records. Sonopress, later known as Arvato Digital Services, operated the CD production facility until early 2016, according to an article I wrote in late 2015 for the Citizen Times.
The building is now owned by Made Monticello LLC, whose registered agent is Eddie Dewey, who is part of another partnership that owns 11 buildings in the River Arts District.
Dewey told me Thursday that he has talked to McClinton and Hild about the possibility of locating there, an idea that first came up after Salvage Station was notified the NCDOT would take the Riverside Drive property..
The Park 108 building is enormous — about 416,000 square feet under roof and 375,000 leasable square feet, Dewey said. It already has multiple tenants, including a French Broad Chocolate production facility, a cookie company, and a guitar operation. Most recently, Moog Music “just moved their manufacturing line up there,” Dewey said.
“So think about a Salvage Station and putting them up there,” Dewey said. “We have a big yard. We have nighttime parking, and some programming (already) in. It’s also a little bit of a food desert.”
The Park 108 building is located on about 35 acres on the northwest corner of the I-26/Monticello Road interchange.
“What is attractive to us about outdoor programming is we’ve got 35 acres, we’ve got a 2 ½-acre field, we’ve got mountain views and we have 700 parking spaces that sit empty from five o’clock on Friday afternoon until 8 a.m. on Monday,” Dewey said. “It doesn’t have to be like a 3,000 person outdoor venue or an indoor venue. It can be something else. But we’re just looking at, ‘How can we turn this into more of a community asset?’”
As a property owner in the RAD, Dewey said he’s completely sympathetic to Salvage Station’s plight in trying to save some of its equipment and get a handle on the financial complexities of a possible relocation.
Fitzsimmons also noted that Weaverville is excited about the potential for redevelopment of another former industrial plant, the old Balcrank facility at 115 Reems Creek Road. (Balcrank moved to a new location about a decade ago.)
“Something’s gonna happen there,” Fitzsimmons said of the old Balcrank location. “We’re talking to several different interested parties, and there’s something interesting that will happen there.”
Fitzsimmon noted that a lot of artists have been displaced from the River Arts District in Asheville, and from Marshall in Madison County.
“So we, too, are trying to attract the artist economy to Weaverville,” he said.


Question: I’m a member of the Grove Park Inn Sports Center, and we were recently notified that the entire Grove Park Inn was bought out for an entire week — all of the restaurants, shops, etc. No one was allowed inside the building except for the private group. We could use the Sports Center, but we are curious as to who is so important and so wealthy that they rented out all of the restaurants. We could not eat at any of them!
My answer: I once toyed with the idea of renting out an entire room at the Grove Park Inn for a night. But then I saw the rates…
Real answer: So this transpired last week.
“This past week, we hosted a private tech group that reserved the hotel for the duration of their conference,” Omni Grove Park Inn spokesperson Isabel Miller told me via email.
The group departed Friday, Jan. 17, and the property was fully reopened to the public at 11 a.m. that day.
So, enjoy those restaurants once again!
The Grove Park Inn has about 500 rooms, and rates for this weekend were ranging from $300 to $400 a night, or a minimum of $150,000 a night for the whole shebang. Multiply that by a whole week and you’re pushing three quarters of a million dollars.
That’s probably high, because you would get a gigantic group discount and weekday rates, but still, someone spent a gazillion simoleons. So, I’m just going to go ahead and say it must’ve been Zuckerberg and friends.
Seriously, I have no idea who it was, but if anyone has the skinny on what group it was, drop me a line. You know I’m nosy.
Asheville Watchdog is a nonprofit news team producing stories that matter to Asheville and Buncombe County. Got a question? Send it to John Boyle at jboyle@avlwatchdog.org or 828-337-0941. His Answer Man columns appear each Tuesday and Friday. The Watchdog’s reporting is made possible by donations from the community. To show your support for this vital public service go to avlwatchdog.org/support-our-publication/.
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News from the South - North Carolina News Feed
Democratic AGs allege Trump administration is freezing federal funds despite court order • NC Newsline
SUMMARY: Democratic attorneys general filed an emergency motion asking a federal judge to enforce a temporary restraining order against the Trump administration, alleging it has failed to comply with a court ruling regarding federal funding. They highlighted confusion over the suspension of various financial assistance programs and noted that important initiatives, such as Head Start programs and NIH grants, have been halted. U.S. Senator Patty Murray emphasized the negative impact of this funding freeze on local economies and employment. The judge has requested a response from the Department of Justice by Sunday amid ongoing debates over the funding situation.
The post Democratic AGs allege Trump administration is freezing federal funds despite court order • NC Newsline appeared first on ncnewsline.com
News from the South - North Carolina News Feed
Cross-country storm set to bring more snow to Northeast
SUMMARY: The Tennessee Highway Patrol is investigating tornado damage in Deer Lodge, urging people to avoid the area. In Kentucky, an EF1 tornado caused destruction in Hart County, while a wintry mix affected New England, leading to multiple accidents on I95. Massachusetts Turnpike faced tractor-trailer incidents, and Connecticut officials warned about maintaining safe distances on the roads. Pennsylvania reported stranded vehicles amid approaching storms expected to bring significant snowfall to Minnesota and Wisconsin, with winter storm watches issued for parts of New York and New Jersey. In California, heavy rains caused landslides, resulting in two fatalities and dramatic rescues. Meanwhile, the South experienced record-high temperatures.

The storm that brought heavy rain and mountain snow to the West Coast is making the trek across the country to bring a significant snowstorm to the Northeast this weekend.
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News from the South - North Carolina News Feed
All Buncombe County river debris cleanups should be finished by June 1, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says • Asheville Watchdog
Unsightly debris that has plagued mountain rivers since Helene’s destructive flooding Sept. 27 will be removed by June 1, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced Friday, and that includes downed trees and vegetation as well as vehicles, appliances and other storm debris.
“So we’ve got pretty clear guidance from the state as well as FEMA, in terms of our target goals, to get this mission completed,” Corps Col. Brad Morgan told a press gathering Friday afternoon at the Swannanoa River. “So the mission you see behind me, the waterway mission, our target for completion is June 1.”
That includes all waterways in 25 counties, Morgan said. In Buncombe County, that means the Swannanoa and French Broad Rivers, which were deluged with fallen trees, ruined vehicles, propane tanks and other detritus, are scheduled to be cleaned up by June 1.
The deadline for the Corps’ private property debris removal mission is June 30, Morgan said, and April 1 for right-of-way debris removal.
“So that’s very loud, that’s very clear — those are the dates that FEMA, the Corps of Engineers, and the state of North Carolina, as well as some of the other counties (that) are also using their own contracts, their own capability, to work the debris — we’ve all agreed to these dates, and we’re all working to push to meet those dates right now,” Morgan said.
Morgan said river debris removal work started in Buncombe County on Feb. 1, and 16,000 cubic yards of debris were cleared in six days along about two miles of river. The Corps estimates it will have to remove 1 million cubic yards of debris by June 1, although Morgan said that number will likely rise.
Morgan, as well as Rob Ray, a vice president with the primary debris removal contractor, AshBritt, and Buncombe County Solid Waste Manager Dane Pedersen, addressed the news conference. They previously had given elected officials and city and county officials a tour of the work.
They stood by the Swannanoa River off Old Farm School Road, where two large Ponsse timber machines crawled through the river behind them, snatching up fallen trees and limbs and placing them into a hopper for removal.
“Obviously, we’re continuing to ramp up our staff and our crews,” Morgan said. “We expect to have 10 working by this weekend, with another 20 to 25 within the next week.”
Work on French Broad in RAD to begin soon
Work on the French Broad River in the River Arts District will start soon, but Morgan said because the river is deeper there they’ll have to bring in different types of equipment, including small barges.
Morgan and Ray said contracts were in place before President Donald Trump visited Swannanoa on Jan. 24, issuing an executive order and vowing to speed up the recovery process. Trump’s order, and another from North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein, helped expedite the work, Morgan said.
“FEMA provides me my mission assignments to the Corps of Engineers to do the work,” Morgan said. “So we were extremely close to getting to where we are today prior to the executive order, and that just helped us push over, break through some of those bottlenecks to get actually into what we’re seeing behind me.”
Morgan said the Corps has about $500 million in contracts in place right now for cleanup, “and I expect that number to continue to grow.”
Ray said the flood damage here is the worst he’s seen in 23 years in the industry. His company will double crews to 16 in the area in the coming week, meaning more than 250 workers will be on the cleanup job.
The job is difficult because of the mix of debris present in the river.
“You can very easily see all the woody debris, but in a lot of these piles of that woody debris, you’re going to find household hazardous waste,” Ray said. “You’re going to find crushed vehicles in the larger piles — basically anything that’s in your home or in a building, we’re going to find in these streams.”
AshBritt has to separate the debris, recycle what’s possible and then take what remains to collection sites in Enka and Beacon Village.
Pedersen said so far about 1 million cubic yards of debris has been removed in Buncombe County.
Amanda Edwards, chair of the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners, termed the news “significant progress for Buncombe County.”
“I am grateful for the work of the Army Corps, AshBritt and the support from our federal and state officials for keeping their foot on the gas pedal and not forgetting that western North Carolina exists,” Edwards said. “And thank you to the residents of Buncombe County for your patience and reminding us how important this work is to recovery and to rebuilding Buncombe County back even stronger.”
Asked why it has taken more than four months to get the river debris rolling, Morgan said, “It’s been a combination of a multitude of things.” That includes securing permission from private property owners for the debris removal, securing proper entry to the river, conducting site and hazard assessments, and then securing contractors.
Asheville Watchdog is a nonprofit news team producing stories that matter to Asheville and Buncombe County. John Boyle has been covering Asheville and surrounding communities since the 20th century. You can reach him at (828) 337-0941, or via email at jboyle@avlwatchdog.org. The Watchdog’s local reporting during this crisis is made possible by donations from the community. To show your support for this vital public service go to avlwatchdog.org/support-our-publication/.
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