New hotel proposed for Biltmore Village area; what do plans say?
ASHEVILLE - A new hotel has been proposed at 10 Kitchin Place in Biltmore Village, off Hendersonville Road and Boston Way.
The Kessler Hotel is proposed to have 96 rooms, along with a restaurant and a spa. The building will be four floors — roughly 52 feet high — with 148 below-grade parking spaces. The entrance for parking at the hotel will be on Boston Way.
The current building at 10 Kitchin Place is a former ATM and bank building. Both are currently vacant.
The proposal comes from The Kessler Collection, a Florida-based hospitality brand that runs and owns the Grand Bohemian Asheville, which is across the street from the proposed Kitchin Place hotel.
The Kessler Collection owns 11 hotels and resorts, along with other boutique and high-end developments, including a mansion, several art galleries and a commercial business district in Savannah, Georgia.
The Oct. 25 submission for the development estimated a cost of $52 million to build the hotel.
The hotel is seeking conditional zoning review, where the location will be re-zoned in order for construction of the hotel. After consideration from the city's Technical Review Committee on Nov. 20, the project will go through the Planning and Zoning Commission and then on to Asheville City Council for final approval.
The hotel held a neighborhood meeting for the development on Oct. 4, where 14 community members came to hear questions answered by four members of the development team.
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During the meeting, several attendees noted that traffic would be added to the area near Hendersonville Road and All Souls Crescent Church and also expressed worries about the building taking up open space, according to a transcript of the Oct. 4 meeting. Positive comments included an appreciation for the aesthetic of the building.
The location currently falls within the boundaries of the hotel overlay, which was created after the 17-month hotel moratorium. The moratorium also led to the development of the public benefits table — a table of developer requirements used to "help mitigate the impacts of hotel development and also leverage hotel development to meet City Council goals and address community needs," according to a 2021 City of Asheville news release.
As the location is seeking a conditional zoning review, the hotel may not be required to earn points on the public benefits table — which would typically be a part of the process if the hotel was seeking a Level II approval. However, City Council or the Planning and Zoning Commission can place conditions on the developer to adhere to the public benefits table.
The developers requested a Nov. 20 meeting with the Technical Review Committee, which will be the first step of the approval process. Public comment is not available during Technical Review Committee meetings.
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Will Hofmann is the Growth and Development Reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA Today Network. Got a tip? Email him at WHofmann@citizentimes.com.
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: New Asheville hotel proposed for Biltmore Village area
