The For Sale sign in the front window of the S&W Cafeteria Building in Asheville may be coming down soon—and a new floor going up. Patton Avenue’s iconic terra-cotta-roofed landmark, designed by Douglas Ellington in the 1920s, has stood dormant since the departure of Shotzy’s bar a few years back.
“We kind of want to bring it back to life,” says Real Estate Center’s Scott Carter, who will also be marketing residential space in the building if the deal goes through. The project, he said, is dependent on the ability to add a fourth floor—recessed from the building’s front ledge—for penthouse residential units. A restaurant is planned for the main floor and condominiums for the third, according to Carter. Closing on the property could take place in July, but moving forward is dependent on the fourth-floor addition getting the nod from the Historic Resources Commission later this month.
“The S&W building is going downhill,” Carter comments. “It needs some activity in there to bring it back.”
I’m in favor of plans that would save this beautiful building; i’m just not convinced that adding a new floor – even with an attempt to match the floors below – is actually ‘saving’ the building or destroying it without a wrecking ball.