Moog Music to move downtown

Posted on by Michael Muller

According to sources, Moog Music will purchase the long-vacant brick buildings at 170 Broadway — those located just north of the Interstate 240 overpass and across the street from the ABC liquor store — to house a retail location, museum and its famous factory.

While confirmation of the sale and further details would not be provided by Moog, a spokesman for Moog president Mike Adams did tell Xpress that an announcement of some kind will be made at 3 p.m. this Friday afternoon. Moog’s current operation is located at 2004 Riverside Drive, just north of the city.

The property housed “Dinner for the Earth,” Asheville’s first natural foods store, from 1979 to 1983 1993, and was recently sold to the Whiteside Fund of Cashiers, N.C., for $400,000.

Moog Music is known around the world for manufacturing musical instruments. The company was founded by Dr. Robert Moog, a pioneer in the industry, who is most famous for inventing the Moog synthesizer.

Jay Weatherly, owner of the Dripolator Coffee Shop (located just north of what will be Moog’s new location) was thrilled at the news: “Tapping into the deep roots of Asheville with one of the very things that makes Asheville so great. … It sounds like a perfect fit for that location,” Weatherly said.

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9 thoughts on “Moog Music to move downtown”

  2. D. Dial

    Opps, I think that date is wrong…pretty sure Dinner for the Earth, was operating at this location into the 90s.

  3. Tracy D. Hyorth

    I’m pretty sure they were operating at that location into at least the early ’90s. I didn’t move to Asheville until 1985 and they were definitely at the Broadway location then.

  4. David Cohen

    and I think that Nothing But Natural, and maybe even the little health food store on Wall St., might have been before Dinner for the Earth.

  6. Michael Muller

    Indeed. My math was incorrect — Dinner for the Earth was at that location until 1993. Sorry about that!

    MM

  7. James Fisher

    Perfect use of those buildings! That stretch is really growing, getting active and this is a real anchor of the best kind – yeah Moog!

  8. Keith

    Dinner for the Earth moved to Westgate and became Earth Fare in the Summer of 1994. I was there hanging the aisle signs at 3:00 AM before opening day. Roger was my best man.

  9. D. Dial

    Really appreciate seeing the rendering of the building. It’s going to be a great asset to Broadway corridor.

    With Greenlife / WFM, Pioneer Building (great job developers!), Moog, Health Adventure…what’s next?

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