Answer Man: What happened to West Asheville Family Dollar? What's next for the building?

Today's burning question from a reader is about the building on Haywood Road that until quite recently was occupied by Family Dollar.

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Question: What happened to the Family Dollar on Haywood Road, and what is planned now for the building?

Answer: The Family Dollar, a value-store chain and a fixture on Haywood Road in West Asheville for 20 years, cleared its shelves and closed its doors in January.

The company will maintain a presence in Asheville with a pair of locations, including one in West Asheville. But all traces of the business were removed from the building it once occupied on 609 Haywood Road, and its familiar red and yellow sign had been tossed in a large green dumpster.

A company spokesperson for Family Dollar gave no explanation for the closure, confirming only that the Haywood Road location has closed for good, while urging customers in the area to shop at its nearby location on Patton Avenue.

There are no immediate plans for the space, said Doug Ellington, registered agent of Medstream Properties LLC, which owns the 9,750 square-foot property.

Ellington is the great-nephew of renowned architect Douglas Ellington, who designed the S&W Cafeteria and the City/County buildings downtown. The younger Ellington, president of Ellington Realty Group, declined on to comment on the sort of impact his building might one day have on the fast-changing West Asheville cityscape.

“We will be evaluating options in the coming weeks,” Ellington wrote in an email.

The former tenant at 609 Haywood Road leaves behind a prime retail space located in the heart of a thriving commercial district that is near several other vacant buildings and lots. Prior to opening as a Family Dollar, the 609 Haywood Road building had been an auto parts store, but the types of businesses moving into the area these days reflects the type of growth the neighborhood wants.

"If you look up and down the corridor there continues to be activity with new businesses looking to open and lease space," said Austin Walker, a broker for Whitney Commercial Real Estate Services in Asheville. Walker owns several properties in West Asheville, and so he keeps tabs on development in the area.

A short walk down the road from the former Family Dollar, at 644 Haywood Road, is just one example of what is coming down the pike. To look at the place now, it's hard to see past the torn-up slabs of concrete, and the graffiti-covered buildings. But word on the street, according to Walker, is that an establishment, the sort where patrons let loose their furry pets while they belly up to a full-service bar, could soon occupy the space. The owner of the property could not be reached for comment.

"If you look at Haywood Road 20 years ago, it has transition and matured to become a place that is highly desirable," said James Harrison, also a broker for Whitney Commercial Real Estate Services. "Still, there is still lots left to be done along that corridor."

But even with the heightened interest, both men said the size of the now vacant building on 609 Haywood Road presents a challenge for commercial developers looking to lure in tenants.

"There aren’t many 9,000-square-foot retail units on Haywood Road," Walker said. "You may see some type of adaptive reuse that takes the existing structure and adapts it to a different use than what was previously there."

Aaron Nelsen is the trending news editor for the Asheville Citizen Times. His past stops include the San Antonio Express-News, where he was the Rio Grande Valley bureau chief, and for Time Magazine in Chile. He has been published in the New York Times, The Guardian, and Texas Monthly Magazine. Reach him at anelsen@citizentimes.com or follow him on twitter @amnelsen.

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Answer Man: What happened to Family Dollar in West Asheville?