Asheville City Council preview: development for Eagle Street

Posted on by David Forbes

Tomorrow night, Asheville City Council will consider grants and a loan from its affordable housing trust fund for a project in the Eagle/Market Street area that includes 62 affordable-housing units, along with business and community space. If the new funds are approved, the city’s commitment to the project could total $4.6 million.

The development, overseen by local nonprofit Mountain Housing Opportunities and the Eagle Market Streets Development Corporation, is supported with a combination of local and state government funds. The aim is to help revitalize the Block, once viewed as a major African-American center, but economically devastated by the “urban renewal” of the 1970s. Subsequent proposals failed to get the necessary funding. The proposed housing will range from $200 to $780 a month.

The city of Asheville’s plans have already involved the commitment of $1 million along with $300,000 in an affordable housing trust fund loan, but estimates of the project’s cost are now higher than originally anticipated, and the city may approve new funds totaling $3.3 million. Buncombe County and the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development are also contributing funds.

Asheville City Council will meet at 5 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 26, on the second floor of City Hall.

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