RAD Lofts, including around 200 housing units, coming to former Dave Steel site

Full announcement from Riverlink:

RiverLink is excited to announce that the site where Dave Steel Company was founded over 80 years ago in the heart of what was once Asheville’s industrial district — now known as the River Arts District — is about to get a big facelift. Delphi Development (Delphidevelopment.com) of Asheville is under contract to purchase and develop the site at the intersection of Roberts Street and Clingman Avenue.

The project will be known as The RAD Lofts and consists of 200 +/- residential units and an internal parking garage, along with retail, restaurants, and live/work units. In response to artists’ expressed desire to own their own space and in support of the River Arts District, Delphi will be offering pre-sale retail and live/work studio spaces along with a mix of retail rentals to complement the proposed apartments.

The RAD Lofts conforms to the popular Wilma Dykeman RiverWay Plan as well as the city’s stated strategic goal to encourage more high density development within the city limits.

Delphi Development has successfully completed a number of projects in Asheville, including The Sawyer Motor Building Condominiums on Coxe Avenue, Eastwood Village in Reynolds off of Route 74 and the Mosteller Mansion Estate in Hickory, North Carolina.

Delphi, an Asheville company, will utilize local artists for exteriors and common area finishes of the building and has hired Jeff Dalton and Robin Raines of Rowhouse Architects of Asheville to lead the design team. Spake Real Estate of Asheville is conducting presale/prelease efforts for the retail and live/work spaces. Once all permits and due diligence investigations are completed, the projected timeline for the development envisions that construction will begin in the spring of 2014 and will be completed by summer of 2015.

The River Arts District has dramatically changed over the past decades, evolving from an entirely industrial area to a prime destination for recreation, art, music, alternative energy and a variety of unique food offerings. Unlike other arts districts around the country, the Asheville arts district has 14 artist-owned buildings.

Asheville’s riverfront has become an even more exciting destination since the decision by New Belgium Brewing, the third largest craft brewery in the U.S., to build its east coast facility on the west bank of the French Broad River at the former WNC Livestock Auction Facility on Craven Street. Sierra Nevada, the second largest craft brewery in the U.S., also chose WNC as the new home for an east coast brewery and packaging facility, located near the Asheville Regional Airport on the banks the French Broad River.

Dave Steel Company and the Dave family have been prominent fixtures in the Asheville business community for almost a century. Dave Steel Co. continues to operate its steel fabrication plant near the Swannanoa River on Meadow Road as well as a new plant located in Chesnee, South Carolina and an engineering office in Cincinnati, Ohio. The Dave family continues to be industrialists and philanthropists in the Asheville community as they have for generations. According to Jeff Dave, President and CEO of Dave Steel Company “The RAD Lofts is the next logical development for our original factory site. The river and riverfront have changed greatly since I was a child and this new vision will take us to the next level in making Asheville and the Asheville riverfront a destination for everyone to live, work and play.”