New Asheville boutique hotels focus on Zelda Fitzgerald's history

ASHEVILLE - With Roaring '20s themed names, reimagined 19^th century homes and a goal to provide “an immersive Asheville experience,” Atlanta-based developer Hatteras Sky and hotel management company Lark Hotels will open a total of three new boutique hotels this year, with a fourth in pre-development.

After being completed, the developments will add 139 new hotel rooms to Asheville.

Two of the developments, Zelda Dearest and Zelda Salon, are named in honor of Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald. The hotels are the result of a partnership between Hatteras Sky and the family of famed novelist F. Scott and his wife, Zelda Fitzgerald, who had a special connection to Asheville, having lived, vacationed and sought care for various health troubles here.

“Once we started to explore, you know, the connection between Asheville and the Fitzgeralds, we became moved by Zelda and her story and experience,” said Amy Kelly, founding principal of Hatteras Sky.

Kelly said that Zelda Dearest, a 20-room boutique hotel set to open in the South Slope in October, will focus on Zelda Fitzgerald’s “young adult years,” reflecting beauty and optimism.

Zelda Salon, which is currently in pre-development for 35 rooms, is focused on Fitzgerald’s years in Europe during the 1920s. The name is a reference to Gertrude Stein’s home in France, where Zelda and F. Scott, often stayed.

More: Hotel renovation of historic homes on Biltmore Avenue an homage to Zelda Fitzgerald

“That period of time is reflected in the name but also it will be reflected in the design. With nods to where they spent their time,” Kelly said.

Zelda spent her last days as a patient at Highland Hospital in Montford, where she died tragically March 10, 1948, in a fire at the mental health institution, along with eight other women.

Blind Tiger enters reincarnation as 'guest house'

The first of Lark and Hatteras Sky's developments to launch this year was Blind Tiger Asheville. The hotel aims to make sure that guests “have the visit they want to have and to feel like they’re part of the city,” said Rob Blood, founder of Lark Hotels.

Located at 173 E. Chestnut St., in the Chestnut Hill Neighborhood, the main residence at Blind Tiger is called a “guest house” to emphasize guest experience, said Blind Tiger General Manager Catherine Mitas. Each of the 14 rooms in the guest house features personalized letters from Asheville community members, called ‘hosts’, providing recommendations for food, coffee and activities.

Blood said the letters were inspired after he realized his own limitations in providing guests information.

“I can provide a base level of information. Catherine can provide a base level of information. But someone like Jacob Sessoms, who's lived in Asheville and created amazing culinary experiences in Asheville — I really want to know what that guy is doing on his day off,” Blood said.

Prior to becoming the Blind Tiger earlier this year, the 1889 residence has been used as a bed and breakfast location, a nursing home and as a boarding home.

Most recently, the location was the White Gate Inn, a bed and breakfast owned by Frank Salvo and Rick Coffey. White Gate Inn was the only gay owned and operated bed and breakfast in Western North Carolina until it was sold in 2022.

“The house has an incredible history. It was built in 1889, one of the oldest structures in that neighborhood— older than the houses in Montford,” said Salvo. “It had been a boarding house and a convalescent home for tuberculosis patients, and I think we carried on the history of that.”

More on Zelda: WNC History: Inside the 1948 Highland Hospital fire that killed Zelda Fitzgerald

After operating the bed and breakfast for 18 years, Salvo and Coffey put the home on the market, where it sat for five years before being purchased by Lark Hotels and Hatteras Sky.

Mitas stepped into the general manager position and helped run the property as the White Gate Inn prior to the building's conversion to the Blind Tiger. Mitas acknowledged that renovating such a historic building “can be a little scary," but the team aimed to retain all of the buildings original features.

“We preserved all of the original features. There is nothing in the floor that we put in or woodwork we painted over,” Mitas said. “I mean, we really did our best to preserve all of those most historic features of the home that make it a destination.”

Blood described the fourth development, dubbed The Radical, a 70-room hotel located at 95 Roberts St. being developed by Hatteras and Lark, as a “full-on immersive experience.”

“It’s like an entertainment complex. It’s hard to even call it a hotel, because there’s so much going on there, but I think you could probably go there and stay for a week and never walk outside.” Blood said. “Of course, we want people to walk outside and get out.”

The Radical, will open Oct. 8 alongside Zelda Dearest in early October.

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Will Hofmann is the Citizen Times Growth and Development Reporter. Email him at WHofmann@citizentimes.com.

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Asheville boutique hotels bring Zelda Fitzgerald history