Heart of Asheville's Black business district, YMI Cultural Center $6M renovations underway

ASHEVILLE - In the heart of downtown, on the corner of Eagle and Market streets, a Nov. 17 celebration marked the beginning of an historic undertaking — the $6 million renovations of the YMI Cultural Center, a 129 year-old staple that has served as an anchor for the city's Black community for generations.

"This has been a long, long journey," said Dewana Little, YMI Cultural Center executive director. Now that it was here, all she and other board members, sponsors and local elected officials could talk about was the 100 years to come.

Little, an Asheville native, said it's always been about the future, about making opportunities for the next generation. When thinking about the way forward, the community youth was always the touchstone, she said.

Like her own 2-year-old daughter, Shereece Naomi, who was careening through the crowd in a puffy, purple jacket, only pausing to sift through the dirt supplied for the shovel-and-smile groundbreaking photoshoot that had occurred minutes before.

Previous coverage:

• Asheville YMI celebrates 129 years; $5 million renovations to begin in April

• Asheville YMI wins $500,000 grant to go towards Black cultural center needing $5M in repairs

What are the renovations?

The project will include renovations to its basement for community use, a modified kitchen, newly-lit gallery and climate-controlled archival room, according to a Nov. 10 news release from the YMI.

Joel Horne, the project's construction manager with Durham-based financial institution Self-Help, said the 19,000-square-foot building is brimming with untapped potential.

As a national historic landmark, Horne said renovations will ensure "all the historic fabric remains," such as the 1893 English Tudor style building's signature pebbledash coating.

"It's unique, and it's unique to this area," Horne said.

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Though renovations will not impact the original architecture and layout, it will modernize the facility. Horne anticipated at least a half-million dollars would be dedicated to new equipment and systems, like a "state of the art" auditorium and theater space.

With a $6.2-million fundraising goal, the bulk of the money will go toward construction. Horne said about $4 million of the budget is hard construction costs, while $2 million are soft costs, such a design, landscaping and operations.

Though the center is much celebrated, years of disrepair has taken its toll on the building. Horne said the last substantive renovation work happened in the '80s, and the structure has fallen into "a little bit of a decline."

Project plans indicate the building needs to stabilize its structure, and replace/update mechanical systems, fire suppression/alarms systems, accessibility conveyance, plumbing and lighting.

Much of the building's space is empty or underutilized, Horne said, and interior renovations will transform areas into multipurpose event space, classrooms and storage, all with audiovisual systems that will allow the YMI to market itself to the broader community.

He said what struck him was the "the untapped potential that was still in the building, that may have been used years ago, but in recent decades, wasn’t used at all.”

Catherine Miller, real estate project manager with Self-Help, said they have been working with the YMI to develop the project since 2020. She hopes maximizing the space will make it a "destination," and allow the YMI to build revenue and sustain its programming.

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Along with the main building, there are four retail spaces associated with the property. The building's tenants, Noir Collective AVL and PennyCup at the YMI will be able to remain throughout construction, Miller said.

The YMI itself has relocated to spaces provided by United Way of Asheville and Buncombe County and WNC Bridge Foundation in the interim.

Construction officially began in October. Its estimated completion is summer 2023.

Little said of all the things to come, she's most excited to move back into the building.

"We are so grateful for the support of WNC Bridge Foundation and United Way, definitely, but there’s nothing like being in your own space," Little said. "Our building is like our home, we’re just looking forward to coming back."

'Pillar of our community'

Al Whitesides, a Buncombe County Commissioner, was among the speakers at the Nov. 17 groundbreaking. He said six generations of his family had used the YMI, and he hoped for his great-great grandson to one day be welcoming others through the door. It was a story echoed by many about Asheville's YMI, one of the oldest Black cultural centers in the country.

“The YMI is a pillar of our community. It’s been around for over 100 years, and we want it to be around for the next 100 years," Whitesides said.

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Of the $6.2-million fundraising goal, about $3.4 million is raised, according to the release. Of this, the first $800,000 was hotel tax grant funds from the Buncombe County Tourism Development Authority. The YMI clinched another $500,000 in grant funds from the National Park Service.

The city allocated $800,000 to the project as part of its American Rescue Act Plan COVID-19 relief funding, and the county awarded $1 million of its own ARPA funds to the project.

Vic Isley, president and CEO for Explore Asheville and the Buncombe County TDA, echoed a desire at the event to see the YMI secured in Asheville for generations to come.

"I can’t think of a more meaningful place in our community to mark placemaking than the corner of Eagle and Market streets here at the YMI Cultural Center," Isley said.

The YMI now uses its 1893 downtown building for a range of training and assistance, from personal finance management to business incubation and youth programming.

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Located on South Market Street, the YMI was once the heart of downtown's Black business district. It served as a refuge for African American residents during segregation and the Jim Crow era, supporting a library, professional services and an orchestra.

The center has a GoFundMe page for public donations, which has generated $30,840 by Nov. 17. More information on the capital campaign can be found at ymiculturalcenter.org/capital-campaign.

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.

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: $6M in renovations what's in store for Asheville's YMI Cultural Center