A New Civic Center for All Asheville

By David L. Swain

As the European theater of World War II wound down, in late 1944 and early 1945, I was a senior at Lee Edwards High School and then a freshman at Biltmore College (today\’s UNC-Asheville).

In those days many American soldiers being brought back from Europe were given a couple of weeks R&R (Rest & Recreation) in Asheville\’s best hotels before they were deployed to the Pacific to help finish the war there. And we youngsters loved it, because not only were those GIs were put up in Asheville\’s finest hotels‚Äîthe Vanderbilt, the Battery Park, and others‚Äîsome of the best jazz bands in America were brought in to play at Asheville\’s fine new Civic Center . . . if they were white. And the musicians in those bands were all white. Black servicemen, however, were entertained by bands of black musicians playing at the tobacco warehouse on Valley Street. Fortunately for all of us who loved all jazz, we were allowed into both venues to hear the best jazz of the time by black and white musicians.

Many years later, after working in both the U.S. and abroad, I returned to my home town only to find many great changes, not least being the easing of the old “color lines” between whites and blacks. Much lower on the scale, yet still of vital concern, is the adequacy and condition of the old Civic Center, now approaching a crucial moment of decision. Quite naturally, the local newspaper (which as a teenager I had once delivered for pocket money) has led the citizenry in the quest for the best solution to a doubled-edged problem. One, how best to renovate the old Civic Center, and two, how to manage the need for parking space sufficient to the mounting need. Given the recent expansion of the city\’s population, partly due to a heavy influx of retirees, the need is even greater: more people, more cars, needing more parking options.

Quite naturally, one widely favored idea is to “reinvent” the old Civic Center as a more specialized “Center for the Performing Arts”‚Äîa sound proposal, as that focus would probably entail less physical deterioration of the older facility, and parking for its events would be somewhat limited. Currently, the Asheville Civic Center Task Force is considering a new option: a new concert/sports facility somewhere else. This is precisely the direction my own thinking has taken, and I have a proposal for where it should be located.

Strangely enough, right in the heart of downtown Asheville at the very elbow of Pritchard Park, is a wide and long gentle slope on which a large new civic center could be built. And this could done without excessive disturbance or destruction of existing structures, most of which are fairly old and thus hardly merit the valuable downtown space on which they are located. Virtually none of these existing structures is more than two stories high. They are, so to speak, left over from, say, 1920s Asheville.

This area is a rectangle that has Coxe and Ashland avenues on its sides (or on to Grove if more lateral space is needed), and it extends downhill across Aston to Hilliard. Of course in its upper end is located the Asheville Transit Center. So, what to do? Tear down the bus terminal and relocate it? Not at all! First, remove the old structure, and then remake it within the bounds of the new Civic Center. Or, to make it sound more professional, incorporate the Asheville Transit Center as an integral part of the new civic center. It would perform a vital function of reducing the need for automobile travel and parking. And it would make this civic center more easily accessible for citizens living within reasonable access of bus lines.

Thus the new civic center would serve a major purpose of cities as such, as their primary function is to integrate people into well-functioning activities, whether commercial, political, educational, entertainment, and so on. So, the closer a facility is to the city\’s true center, the better is serves this crucial function.

Those who know this area well will already sense some problems of location. In the upper sector of the proposed area there already stand, besides the bus depot, a new Post Office and a bank or two. Then there are the older buildings scattered across the larger area. How to relocate or otherwise accommodate the services these provide will require some ingenuity and cooperation, but that would be the case at any new site. The most fortunate factor is that there are practically no buildings in the area that exceed two stories in height.

Finally, the options for parking are enhanced by the gentle downhill slope of the proposed area, especially as there may be room for additional levels to be added at the slope\’s lower end. Moreover, there are some open areas outside the proposed rectangle that might be used for parking decks.

This site is readily accessed from the east and west via I-240 as well as from the north by I-26 (where it reaches Patton Avenue). From the Biltmore area, drivers could head straight up McDowell to Ashland.

Needless to say, there is much, much more to consider; this is just a primer. Even so, the people of Asheville have always shown great ingenuity in shaping the land for habitat, industry and entertainment. I hope this proposal attracts some of the best minds available.