Answer Woman: Are 2 new Starbucks still coming to Asheville?
ASHEVILLE - Today's question is about the status and timeline of two proposed Starbucks. Got a question for Answer Man or Answer Woman? Email Executive Editor Karen Chávez at KChavez@citizentimes.com and your question could appear in an upcoming column.
Question: Last summer your paper wrote that two standalone Starbucks cafés were going to be built on Sweeten Creek Road and the first Starbucks café in East Asheville on Fairview Road at River Ridge next to KFC. As of a year later, I haven’t seen any signs of construction on either site. Do you by chance have an update on the cafés?
Answer: Somehow, we'll have to get through this year jonesing for a cup of Seattle-based java.
The two aforementioned locations that were proposed for new Starbucks cafés are still coming, but it’s a slow-drip situation.
And, well, maybe we’re not so deep in despair since we have about two dozen existing Starbucks in Asheville. Plus, there are many more local shops to get a caffeine fix that rival the coffee giant.
As of July 12, a construction crew was moving dirt around at the corner of Sweeten Creek Road and Medical Park Drive. It’s in preparation for a Starbucks which will have the address 1 Medical Park Drive.
The site is at the entrance of a medical district of various practices and businesses, including Mission Health’s surgery care center.
The land has sat idle until now.
“It was actually vacant. A long time ago ― decades ago ― that was a farm, and I think there was an old stone cottage at one point down part of the property, but it’s never been commercially developed,” said Brad Freeman, owner of Sullivan & Chase Inc., the Asheville-based development company that owns the property.
The full-size café will be one of the larger models and designed to have energy-efficient and green features, including an EV-charging station and solar panels on the roof.
It’s also planned to have a large outdoor seating area.
Freeman estimates the café’s construction will wrap up around “late fourth quarter 2023 or early fourth quarter 2024.”
Likewise, another construction crew was toiling away at the terrain in the parking lot of the River Ridge Marketplace where a Starbucks will be constructed. Its address will be 211 River Ford Parkway.
The River Ridge Starbucks will be a corporate-owned store that will lease the space from Horne Properties Inc., which owns the shopping center, said Michael Patterson, executive vice president for the Knoxville-based real estate development and management company.
More than a decade ago, a bank occupied the space, but the building was demolished after the financial group moved out. The parcel has been vacant ever since, he said.
Patterson projects that the coffee shop will open in late February 2024.
“Oddly enough, it’s not a big store but the inside is pretty intricate, and the upfit to get those ready takes a while,” Patterson said.
The store won’t be large, but it will offer a unique aspect, a meeting room where patrons may reserve and gather for groups, Patterson said.
There are other coffee shops not far from the site, including locally owned Peaberry Press at 802 Fairview Road in the same retail area and another Starbucks inside Target a couple of miles away.
For Starbucks to lay claim to the site means there must be perceived room for more.
“They wouldn’t go there if they didn’t think there was a need,” Patterson said. “That whole Fairview Avenue with all the neighborhoods and everything there, I think that will serve that community well.”
For a coffee pick-me-up near the medical district, consider locally owned Sweeten Creek Coffee at 330 Sweeten Creek Road.
Answer columns you may have missed:
Answer Woman: Is Deerpark restaurant at Biltmore closed 'temporarily' or forever? Read here.
Answer Woman: Panda Express still coming to South Asheville? Read here.
Answer Woman: Is Chipotle Mexican Grill opening on New Airport Road? Read here.
Tiana Kennell is the food and dining reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA Today Network. Email her at tkennell@citizentimes.com or follow her on Twitter/Instagram @PrincessOfPage. Please support this type of journalism with a subscription to the Citizen Times.
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Starbucks expanding with 2 new stores in Asheville
