Asheville's Mountaineer Inn sold for $6.1M; What comes next for the Tunnel Road property?

ASHEVILLE - A Seattle-based company has purchased The Mountaineer Inn, Asheville's iconic Tunnel Road motor court, for $6.1 million, with plans to refresh the 1939 motel and adopt it into its outdoor recreation-oriented brand.

LOGE Camps (pronounced "Lodge," which stands for Live Outside, Go Explore) is in the business of renovating old hotels, motels and motor lodges. It acquired the Mountaineer in early May, purchased from the Moutos family, who have owned the motel since 1964.

Slate Olson, executive vice president of brand and marketing for LOGE, said they don't bill themselves as "developers."

"We're more renovators, operators and passionate outdoors people," he said in a May 24 phone call with the Citizen Times.

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Of the motel's 76 rooms, 10 will be removed to make space for a larger bar and café, meeting space and other amenities. The remaining rooms will be "updated" and "modernized," Olson said, plus renovations to the pool, and the addition of hot and cold tubs and a "barrel sauna."

Central to LOGE's model is a "gear room," stocked with equipment that suits the surrounding Asheville market. For Asheville, that means mountain bikes, skis and "all things river sport," such as float tubes, paddleboards and fishing gear.

Though the motel's name might change with the LOGE brand affixed to the property, Olson said the iconic sign — which features a towering "mountaineer" in a flobby-brimmed hat, bare feet and the barrel and stock of a leaning musket ― isn't going anywhere.

“We will find ways to keep the iconic aspects of this place alive,” Olson said. “Because, again, we see ourselves as adding to the history, not removing the history."

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Why the Mountaineer?

A look at Buncombe County property records shows the May 5 transfer of the 2.05-acre property at 155 Tunnel Road to Radify Asheville LLC, a limited liability company belonging to LOGE.

Though the property sold for more than $6 million, it is appraised at $2.8 million, $300,500 of which is attributed to building value. While much of the structure has been around since the 1930s, records indicate additions in 1953, which includes the pool, and others in 1965 and 1974.

The building was bought by Chris Moutos in 1964. Moutas, 97, died in February 2022, according to his obituary. Born in 1924 in Doliana Evrytania, Greece, he fled to the United States after the Greek Civil War in 1951.

In a July 6, 1994 article from the Citizen Times, Moutos described the acquisition itself in June 1964, a story that began over a cup of coffee in his restaurant, The Acropolis, on Tunnel Road. He crossed the street to meet with Jack Albee, then owner of the Mountaineer Court Hotel, in the interest of selling memberships to the Asheville Chamber of Commerce.

"Albee was waiting for me in front of that famous mountain man sign, smiling," Moutos was quoted saying in the article. "He put his arm around my shoulder and told me he had a great idea. 'I'm going to sell you the motel, Chris, and you pay the Chamber dues.'"

The price was $350,000.

Olson said LOGE has been in talks about the Mountaineer since 2019, drawn by the history, charm and "opportunity" of the property. Though conversation "came and went" for a while, Olson said, it resurfaced in the last year.

The motel fit LOGE's model, which aims to refurbish rather than build from the ground-up, and was further bolstered by a central location in an area with a strong focus on outdoor recreation.

Per the 1994 article, The Mountaineer Inn has been featured, according to Moutos, in National Geographic and Life. Commercials have been shot on the grounds, he said, and the location was used in filming the 1988 movie "Bull Durham," starring Kevin Costner and Susan Sarandon.

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Who is LOGE?

The Mountaineer is one of several recent acquisitions for the company. Olson said LOGE began in 2017 with its first property in a "little coastal town" in Washington, a cold-water surfing destination that began as a Kickstarter project.

It currently operates five "destinations" in Alta Crystal, Washington; Bend, Oregon; Leavenworth, Washington; Mount Shasta, California; and Westport, Washington. Several other properties are actively in renovation and development, including Colorado and Montana properties.

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In Asheville, as with all their locations, Olson said they will work with "local partners" to ensure "great coffee, great food, great beer," as well as forming relationships with area outdoor outfitters and guides.

A look at websites for its other "destinations," show free events, such as campfires, yoga and meditation, on-site guides, gear storage and outdoor kitchens.

What happens now?

Though acquisition is official, the Mountaineer will continue operating "as is" through the fall. Around September, Olson said, it will close to begin renovations, with the goal of being "new, improved and realized" by May 2024. It will require an estimated six months of renovation.

For now, LOGE intends to keep on existing management and staff. "It's early days," Olson said, but part of the process is getting to know the team, discussing retention and "look(ing) after" the staff there now.

He said staffing numbers at the Mountaineer are currently around eight to 10 people.

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As far as pricing, Olson said he doesn't have hard numbers, but the goal is for it to remain largely "accessible," comparable to the prices that might be found at a Best Western.

For a weekend in June, rates at the Mountaineer currently range from $119 to $149 a night. For a stay during the week, rates range closer to $70.

Sarah Honosky is the city government reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA TODAY Network. News Tips? Email shonosky@citizentimes.com or message on Twitter at @slhonosky. Please support local, daily journalism with a subscription to the Citizen Times.

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Asheville's Mountaineer Inn sold for $6.1M; What's next for the motel?