Haywood Street makeover to begin in January
Specialty retailers and service businesses on and near downtown Asheville’s Haywood Street are bracing for the impact of a major overhaul of the streetscape scheduled to begin construction in January. A key element of the project is the replacement of the blue stone sidewalk paving between Vanderbilt Place and College Street. According to a city press release, other improvements will include street repaving, stormwater upgrades, sanitary sewer replacement, crosswalks and amenities including trees and benches.
Sewer infrastructure will also be replaced along College, Walnut and Flint streets, Page Avenue and possibly Rankin Avenue. The construction costs will be underwritten by the 2016 city transportation general obligation bond, as well as a cost-sharing agreement with the Metropolitan Sewerage District of Buncombe County.
The Asheville Downtown Association is coordinating strategies to support affected businesses during the construction, which is scheduled for completion by September 2020. More information at avl.mx/6h4.
Day spa opens, touts inclusive mission
Courtney Maybin, a native of Western North Carolina who’s married to former T.C. Roberson High School athlete and Major League Baseball free agent Cameron Maybin, opened Beauty Bin, a dry bar and day spa.
“I wanted Beauty Bin to be a place where everyone could come and get all of these great services at an affordable price,” said Maybin, who is biracial, in a press release. “Inclusivity is one of my main things, especially when I’m training my employees. Whether it’s for skin or for hair, I train their ability to work on all people — not just one race.”
Located at 117 Sweeten Creek Road, Suite 40, the spa offers waxing, facials, eyelash extensions and massages. An adjacent space is scheduled to open in January as a dry bar (a hair salon that specializes in blowouts) with a full liquor bar for clients.
“When it comes to adding the dry bar, it’s something that I’m always looking for when I go to other cities. It’s a salon that you can get into that day and very quickly, especially if you’re coming from out of town,” Maybin said.
More information at beauty-bin.com.
Mountain BizWorks celebrates small-biz success
Mountain BizWorks, which provides training, support and funding to local small-business owners, will hold its annual celebration 6-9 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 18, at the Center for Craft, 67 Broadway. The organization, now in its 30th year, will also recognize outgoing its outgoing executive director, Patrick Fitzsimmons.
The event is free to attend. RSVP at avl.mx/6rb. Light refreshments and drinks will be served.
Crawford offers 125 parking spaces
An Asheville man with an illustrious past that includes service in the N.C. General Assembly has embarked, at the age of 90, on a new business venture. Narvel James Crawford announced the reopening of the Carter Street parking lot in downtown Asheville.
According to a press release, “Jim, as he is known to his friends, has owned and operated parking around the western end of downtown Asheville for many years. His mother, Thyma Phillips Crawford, a legal stenographer who once worked for F. Scott Fitzgerald, ran the parking lots before him.”
The freshly-repaved and fenced lot, which also includes professional lighting and security cameras, will offer 125 monthly parking spaces Monday-Friday, 6 a.m.-6 p.m., as well as hourly or event parking on nights and weekends.
Villagers owner on new directions
Kendra Shillington purchased West Asheville homesteading supplier Villagers this past spring. She reported in a Nov. 22 blog post that the shop is “still in the game” despite the challenges of competing with Amazon and other local homesteading supply retailers.
In an email to Xpress, Skillington wrote, “We have been experiencing a lull in sales and traffic and want to resurrect the shop and its visibility to our community.” She said in her blog post that the shop is phasing out farm-oriented items including large sizes of feed and soil amendments, as well as feeders and other livestock products. The shop will “continue to carry high quality tools and other garden products including plant starts, seeds and soil! You will find a plethora in the hearth and home section to help create a nurturing and cozy home environment, including many, many local artisan goods,” Skillington said.
Villagers is located at 278 Haywood Road in West Asheville. More information at forvillagers.com.
Open-ended question: Didn’t the City just spend a couple of million dollars rebuilding Haywood Street, including “adding” those bluestone sidewalks a few years ago? I worked on Haywood Street, and I recall them having the roads torn up for several months while they installed new sidewalks, water lines, gas lines, and then new paving.
Also, didn’t they do the exact same thing on Hilliard Avenue; repave it only a few years after they’d just repaved it?
If my recollection to the previous questions are correct; it’s no wonder the City can’t keep up with it’s duty to maintain roads in our neighborhoods, they spend all of their resources doing the same projects over and over again. I’m curious if Ms. Daffron would ask the Public Works Director when they last did renovation work on Haywood Street (including the sidewalks), and how much did they spend? Same questions for Hilliard Avenue. I think she’ll find that Asheville leaders are indeed squandering your taxes away on repetitive pet projects. There are sidewalks in Asheville that are 50-75 years old. I believe those bluestone sidewalks are between 10 and 15 years old. Why can’t the City specify and build a sidewalk project that is as long lasting? If the Public Works folks can’t answer that question, then please do not let them spend any of the bond money (which is still tax payer funds) until they can figure that part out.