Wine collections and self-storage? New Asheville facility to see City Council vote
ASHEVILLE - If you need to figure out what to do with that old couch you just can't give away, while storing your cherished wine collection, there may be another option coming to the area.
The city of Asheville Planning and Zoning Commission unanimously OK'd the new four-story wine storage and self-storage facility planned for 492 Sardis Road.
The facility, developed by Bee Safe Storage, will be the second Bee Safe Storage in Asheville if developed. The company's first Asheville storage site, which also acts as a wine cellar, is located at 1292 Hendersonville Road.
The facility will include 800 storage units within four stories, according to planning documents. Some of the units will be dedicated to wine collections, where units will be kept between 55 and 65 degrees Fahrenheit, according to the Bee Safe Storage website.
As the project is estimated to be in excess of 100,000 square feet, the proposal must seek a conditional zoning review, which requires City Council approval. The approximately 109,044-square-foot facility will have a maximum height of 80 feet.
The development was approved by the commission unanimously and is scheduled for a vote during the Jan. 23 City Council meeting.
Commissioner Brenton Faircloth noted how the development will bring further sidewalk access to a currently "sporadic" sidewalk network along Sardis Road.
City Urban Planner Clay Mitchell said a technical modification was added to the sidewalk element of the project, where a planting strip will be installed to buffer the road from the sidewalk and to allow for a "safer pedestrian frontage."
One of the project conditions is that the applicant will "make good faith efforts to contract with small and minority firms and women's business enterprises," according to planning documents.
The condition, which Commissioner Geoffrey Barton called "new or maybe unprecedented," was the result of merging goals with the N.C. Department of Transportation, according to the applicant representative Tyler Wagner.
"Working with NCDOT, that's one of their big pushes and of course that's something that we're going to push to and for as well," Wagner said. "So any changes that we have when hiring subcontractors or anything like that, it's something that we're going to push to. We might not be able to achieve it, but it's a goal that we have."
Barton commended the condition.
"That's great, I appreciate it. I'd encourage the applicant and the city to kind of continue to collaborate with the business inclusion office and others to make contracting opportunities available," he said.
The development is next to DeBruhl's Used Car Superstore and the Sardis Road and Sand Hill Road intersection.
There are two storage units within a mile of the site for the new Bee Safe Storage — AAA Storage World and Asheville Mini Storage — along with SmartStop Self Storage on the corner of Sardis Road and Brevard Road just another mile down the road.
Bee Safe Storage is a subsidiary of The Carroll Companies, a Greensboro-based real estate development and management company.
RE Carroll Management, another subsidiary of The Carroll Companies, manages three apartment complexes in the Asheville area — including Greymont Village, a complex less than a mile away from the proposed Bee Safe Storage.
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Will Hofmann is the Growth and Development Reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA Today Network. Got a tip? Email him at WHofmann@citizentimes.com.
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: New Asheville wine, self-storage facility to see City Council vote
