I do love the Asheville rumor mill.

Partly because it always seems to rotate around and get hung up on an “old faithful” topic we all know and love: the Thomas Wolfe Auditorium.

Most recently, I heard from a couple of folks who seemed convinced the City of Asheville is going to use federal disaster relief monies to overhaul the existing T. Wolfe and give it a badly needed renovation, or go hog-wild and build a brand spanking new performing arts center downtown. One person said with conviction the spot is already chosen — a parking area just south of City Hall.

I should note that some of this chatter comes from the city’s “2025 Community Development Block Grant – Disaster Recovery Action Plan” online — specifically, from residents’ comments about that plan, many of them clamoring for an upgrade or new auditorium. Additionally, the matter came up in city-sponsored public listening sessions, as Blue Ridge Public Radio reported in late March. 

That story noted that ArtsAVL, the local arts council, mentioned a Wolfe upgrade in its “Call to Action” on the city’s pending federal windfall, if you can call disaster funding that. The city is slated to receive $225 million in HUD funding, and city officials have said deciding on specific projects, allocating the monies, and getting projects built will be a years-long endeavor.

Other chatter probably came from an April 24 city news release about repairing French Broad River parks that said, “Alongside these relatively complex projects, smaller repairs are being made to other City-owned parks, streets, and facilities. Active examples include roof repairs to the Municipal Building and Thomas Wolfe Auditorium and an assessment of Historic Biltmore Village street lights damaged by the storm.”

The Thomas Wolfe Auditorium definitely needs help

I get why people are clamoring for a chunk of this money to go toward a renovation or a new center. The auditorium is kind of a dump, with a history of roof leaks (including one memorable downpour on bluegrass star Alison Krauss), seats that occasionally shocked patrons via faulty floor lights, bricks that randomly fell on the stage, completely inadequate bathrooms, acoustics that Beethoven would appreciate only after going deaf, air conditioning that gave up the ghost in the heat of the summer, peeling ceiling paint and balcony seats that aren’t quite aimed at the stage.

Other than that, it’s a top-notch arts center.

Renovations or a new center have been talked about for at least three decades, and the city has paid for a handful of studies on what to do. Nothing has happened.

Before Helene, momentum seemed to be building, including for a new center. A group of city staffers and others involved with a performing arts center push met at least monthly to discuss possibilities and options regarding the Wolfe. 

Two years ago, the city released an assessment that estimated renovations  from $42 million for a basic fix to nearly $200 million for an overhaul. Previously, a nonprofit called the Asheville Area Center for the Performing Arts had pushed for a new performing arts center and sought a site for about two decades before that, to no avail.

So it’s really no surprise that the comments on the city’s Disaster Recovery Action Plan included a lot like this:

“Economic revitalization: our downtown businesses and the surrounding areas are suffering greatly after Helene and the loss of visitors. Which in turn is hurting our workforce. We need a source of revenue, a performing arts center downtown, that would attract both locals and visitors to our area. We are spending millions of dollars annually to keep the Thomas Wolfe Auditorium open, but without improvements because it’s too expensive to renovate to today’s standards. As a city, we should support our artists and community by providing an appropriate venue. We deserve something to be proud of.”

Naturally, this being Asheville, dissenters spoke their minds, too: 

“I heard rumors that there is agitation for a performing arts center as part of the infrastructure investment. How is that part of the rationale for recovery?”

The city responded to all of these comments the same way, referencing language in the block grant program referring to funding for infrastructure uses: 

“The Infrastructure Program includes language for parks, recreation, and arts and cultural facility development or improvement activities. These CDBG-DR funds may be utilized for these types of investments; however, all activities must meet the three sets of requirements set forth by HUD: 1. The activity must tie back to the disaster, 2. The activity must meet a national objective, and 3. The activity must qualify as eligible. The City of Asheville will remain committed to meeting the HUD requirements for these funds, specifically the requirement to utilize at least 70 percent of these funds to benefit low-to-moderate income Individuals.”

Would it be legal to use federal funds this way?

Now, the way I read that response, it looks like it’d be difficult to make the auditorium fit in those categories. 

I asked Asheville City Attorney Brad Branham about this, and if the city could use disaster funding for an auditorium renovation or a new building. He first noted that he assumed I was referencing “one of the two primary buckets of federal money, the first being FEMA dollars and the second being CDBG Disaster Recovery funding.”

“FEMA dollars are intended simply to reconstruct infrastructure that was damaged in the storm,” Branham said. “I think we can both agree that the issues with the Thomas Wolfe existed well before the storm, and it wasn’t significantly further impaired by it.”

Additionally, Branham said the city has “essentially already identified the large projects for which we will seek reimbursement from FEMA. The Thomas Wolfe, in its current or any future iteration, is not amongst those projects.”

The second funding option would be the CDBG-Disaster Recovery funds, which Branham noted are administered by HUD and also have a specific framework for which they can be spent.

“These dollars can be spent on a wider range of activities,” Branham said. “However, they still must be related to the disaster and focus on four primary spending categories.”

Those categories are housing, infrastructure, economic revitalization, and mitigation.

“Spending must also be aligned with a disaster-related impact and address an established governmental objective defined by HUD,” Branham said, noting one such option is servicing low- and moderate-income individuals. 

Branham also pointed out the city’s initial spending plan outlines proposed categories “at a very high level,” and it is still under consideration by the federal government.

“It’s going to be some time before any final decisions are made regarding specific projects,” Branham said. “However, those projects will need to conform to the framework described above. Currently, it would be premature to say whether or not any particular item would satisfy these criteria.”

Chris Corl, general manager of Harrah’s Cherokee Center, which encompasses the Wolfe Auditorium, has done yeoman’s work in keeping the place running. He came up with a bold renovation plan a few years ago that never gained traction.

Corl told me via email that during Helene the Thomas Wolfe building “incurred significant wind damage, requiring a complete roof replacement.”

“A temporary repair was conducted in the weeks following the storm, but the full replacement is yet to be completed,” Corl said. “This project will be covered by insurance, and not disaster recovery funds.”

An engineering firm has been selected, he added, and the project will be “a standard design, bid, and build project, with the plan to bid in early summer and on-site work to begin late summer 2025.”

That’s the extent of the work now.

“The rest of the rumors you mention are precisely that — rumors,” Corl said. “The city has not yet decided on specific projects on which the CDBG-DR funds you refer to will be spent.”

“Can the city use federal disaster funds for large entertainment and arts facilities? Yes, if the project meets the necessary parameters of the CDBG-DR program, which has very particular parameters. There are other examples throughout the country of arts, entertainment, and sports facilities constructed using these funds. That does not mean it will happen in Asheville or the city is pursuing that option.”

Passions are high on both sides

For now, the Wolfe continues to host events “to the best of our ability to generate economic and cultural impact on the community,” Corl said.

Corl mentioned the pre-Helene city activities, including in 2023 when City Council asked staff to investigate options for a possible renovation and the subsequent meetings.

“During that process, it became increasingly clear that a significant renovation of the Thomas Wolfe may not be financially prudent due to the building’s age and current requirements for significant Broadway-scale events, among other factors,” Corl said. “The arena is also landlocked in the current site configuration, and a substantial investment in the auditorium would likely impact our future ability to expand opportunities with the arena.”

The stakeholders also reviewed options for other locations, including the site beside City Hall.

“Ultimately, it is clear that the ‘where?’ isn’t our biggest challenge, it’s the ‘how?’” Corl said. “How can we put together a financial model that works in order to get a project of this magnitude across the finish line?”

Corl made this clear: “However, no action has been taken at this time.”

He also noted that the department he heads, community and regional entertainment facilities, planned to update the council last October with suggested next steps. Then Helene hit.

“In the last month, I just started to dive back into trying to find a way forward for an updated facility,” Corl said. “Unfortunately, with all of the new recovery projects and changes on top of the normal day-to-day operations, it’s been quite challenging to find the time to explore a project of this scope properly.”

So, it looks like spending federal disaster dollars on the Wolfe is a longshot. Still, people remain passionate on both sides.

One commenter on the city’s action plan document resorted to all caps to emphasize frustration with any proposal to use federal disaster dollars on a performing arts center.

“If the city used this for a performing arts space when we constantly talk about the incredible need for workforce housing, this would be a shameful and tragic misuse of these funds. HOUSING HOUSING HOUSING! We do NOT need a new performing arts space. It would not benefit low income residents. Do your job!”

This person clearly has an all-caps point. I will quibble with two things — we need a new performing arts space, badly. And it would benefit everyone in the city by providing a decent venue for everything from school programs to touring musicals, and by stimulating the local economy and bringing in tourists.

But I get it. I don’t think federal disaster funds should be used to put lipstick on the Thomas Wolfe pig or build a new center.

The city, and by that I mean 25 years of City Councils that have passed the buck on actually doing something, should have built a new performing arts center probably about 20 years ago. It was obvious then that the T. Wolfe, built in 1940 to host basketball games and wrestling matches, and last renovated in 1975, was a goner.

While other cities have built gleaming facilities such as the Peace Center in Greenville, South Carolina, or the Durham Performing Arts Center down east, Asheville has debated, commissioned studies, patched up the pig and done nothing.

Considering using federal monies earmarked for rebuilding from a natural disaster for such a project is just wrongheaded and self-serving. Yes, Asheville needs a new performing arts center, and probably a major benefactor to step up and seed it with a huge donation, but this is not the way to go about it.

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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. To show your support for this vital public service go to avlwatchdog.org/support-our-publication/.

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