Enka clock tower site zoning OK'd for 3 industrial buildings. What about hospital plans?

ASHEVILLE - Development just off Smokey Park Highway at the former American Enka site finally has the greenlight to move forward with a three-building project comprising nearly 600,000 square feet of industrial space.

Asheville’s Planning and Zoning Commission voted unanimously Jan. 4 to approve conditional zoning for the project, extending the current zoning designations for the 45.5-acre site.

This approval for the project comes with numerous conditions, including one that the iconic Enka clock tower, currently standing alone in a field once occupied by factory facilities, will be preserved.

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Greensboro-based Samet Corp., is heading the development. One of its presidents, Brian Hall, told the Citizen Times Jan. 4 he didn’t know about any specific tenants for the buildings.

“I wish I did,” he said, noting Samet hoped to attract “class-A industrial users.”

The site was long rumored to be a potential Amazon distribution site, though that was never confirmed.

It currently is also the proposed site for a new hospital facility. Florida-based AdventHealth hospital system, which has a facility in Hendersonville, has proposed building a new hospital on the same land where Samet’s proposal is now moving forward.

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AdventHealth Nov. 22 won approval to build this facility from the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services’ Division of Health Service Regulation. That approval was predicated on a 177-page document proposing the hospital, AdventHelath’s certificate of need, or CON, application.

“I don’t know what the hospital’s plans are,” Hall said. “What I do know is that we’ve got our industrial plan that we’re excited about and excited to move forward with.”

City urban planner Will Palmquist said, should the land owners desire, it could come back at any time and propose new zoning or plans for the site, so the deal is not set in stone.

AdventHealth in recent communication with the Citizen Times would not respond to questions about how its proposal literally overlapped Samet’s. AdventHealth has not officially proposed any specific project at the site, which has an address listed as 264 Smokey Park Highway.

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Developers and the city use the address 264 Enka Heritage Parkway to refer to the site.

Currently, AdventHealth’s proposal is on hold since Mission Health and Novant Health — the two other hospital systems that are involved in the CON process — have appealed the state’s decision to select AdvenHealth.

Planning and Zoning’s Jan. 4 decision comes after a conditional zoning designation for the site was put off several times. The application was accepted by staff May 25, 2022, according to a project timeline.

A neighborhood meeting was held the day before that.

There is still some opposition to the Samet industrial project. Two letters were submitted as part of public comment, opposing the Samet vision.

“A series of manufacturing facilities and warehouses will be the death nail for attracting other businesses to the area,” said Louis Gire, a Candler resident who lives six miles from the site. “The property in question will determine the viability of the revitalization of this community and the redevelopment of the properties that surround Enka/Candler as well as elevating the current tax base for Asheville and Buncombe County. I strongly urge you to oppose the current plan in favor of one that will better serve the community, city and county.”

Tim Watkins, who did not provide his address, also said he opposed the project.

“This plan does not feel congruent with Asheville's plan for Urban Center,” Watkins said. “I understand that this Urban Center requires some sort of anchor employment element, but can we not do any better than a soulless distribution facility? The employment per acre of a distribution center must be amongst the lowest of any proposed development. Additionally, distribution centers are becoming more and more automated. This will not be sustainable and space efficient long term employment for our community.”

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He went on to express support for AdventHealth’s proposed hospital as an alternative.

“If we have to have a single anchor element in this space, Advent's hospital would be an incredible addition to this part of the county,” Watkins said. “An employment anchor and an institution that benefits the people. A distribution center does not benefit the community, less the relatively few people employed for the space they take up.”

No commission member expressed any opposition to the project, though chair Joe Archibald asked Hall if a percentage of the project could be dedicated to a certain demographic.

“I was curious if it was going to be something that would allow small scale manufacturing where these could be subdivided,” Archibald said. “I know that is a big, obviously an overall trend, especially here in Asheville.”

One of the conditions of the approved zoning states, “Applicant will make good faith efforts to contract with small and minority firms and women’s business enterprises.”

Hall in response to Archibald said “We’d have to talk that over,” noting “real estate laws around discrimination.”

Andrew Jones is an investigative reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at @arjonesreports on Facebook and Twitter, 828-226-6203 or arjones@citizentimes.com. Please help support this type of journalism with a subscription to the Citizen Times.

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Enka Clocktower site gets zoning approval for 3 industrial buildings