Asheville Real Estate, Iconic Landmarks, and Change
Welcoming progress is easier with wine bars
Asheville’s famous Mountaineer Inn, in my neighborhood
In May 2023, a Seattle-based real estate development company called Loge acquired the almost 100-year-old iconic Mountaineer Inn on Tunnel Road in Asheville for $6.1 million dollars. I remember driving by this motel when I visited Asheville in the summers growing up. At the time, Asheville was still a sleepy, little-known southern mountain town and most of the affordable lodging and restaurants were located on Tunnel Road.
A family-friendly motel court back when, the Mountaineer Inn currently seems to appeal to tourists on a modest budget — some rooms rent for under $100 a night — and, according to a Reddit thread I perused, crack addicts hanging out by the pool. The Hotel.com reviews are downright terrifying, with tales of dirty, roach-infested, “unstable toilet” amenities.
I live up on a knoll across the street from the Mountaineer Inn, and when I pass by on my walks into lovely, bucolic Beaucatcher Mountain, most of the folks wandering in or out of that place seem like they’ve seen some tough times. Somehow, I don’t think they’re Loge’s target patron.
The view of Mountaineer Inn from my deck; you can make out the neon sign through the trees. In the summer, the leaves are thick enough that the building is completely obscured, and I look out at a forest.
The Loge people buy distressed motels in outdoorsy locales across the United States — this is their first purchase in the southeast —, then trick them out to lure travelers who prefer glamping to camping during their outdoor adventures. The Loge website says they plan to re-open The Mountaineer Inn (now closed) this summer with new features: a bar and cafe; wellness amenities; summer and winter gear demos; live music.
They also plan to keep the original neon sign. At the time of the sale, some woke folks decried the“microaggressions” against marginalized locals, as evidenced by the backward letters and the barefoot mountain man posing with his shotgun. Personally, I think the sanitizing of history and cultural institutions has gone way too far in this country, and if you lose that gloriously kitsch sign, you lose the iconic value of The Mountaineer Inn.
I will confess that I have a vested interest in the upscale-ization of this legendary establishment: the more Tunnel Road morphs from cheesy to bougie, the more my condo increases in value. My building is every bit as nice as its more sought-after alternatives in trendy downtown Asheville and the River Arts neighborhoods, and as much as $500,000 cheaper.
Before I-240 was built, Tunnel Road was the only way to get from the small hamlets east of the city into Asheville. As Asheville became a tourist destination, neighborhoods once considered too seedy to venture into, like West Asheville, got re-imagined to the hilt: with every new craft brewery and artisanal biscuit eatery, 10 more modern farmhouses on stilts dotted the hillsides, beckoning the moneyed progressives from other cities.
Tunnel Road is one of the last slightly seedy stretches in Asheville: it’s all Olive Garden-y and mini-mall-y and motels you would never set foot in. The Bougie crept in last year when a restaurateur team bought the old Greyhound bus station and turned it into a bar and small-plate lounge called The Hound. That place hasn’t really taken off yet, but my money is on The Loge guys, who specialize in designing fun, uber-sexy boutique lodgings in trendy, outdoor environments.
Once people start flocking to The Mountaineer Inn for wine and tapas, or to hear live music, more development money will seep into Tunnel Road. Eventually the Olive Gardens and Red Lobsters will morph into vegan bakeries and vintage clothing stores, the mini-malls into high-end condominiums.
Of course, the more the Californians, Coloradoans, New Yorkers, and Floridians move into Asheville, the more this city is in danger of selling its spiritual vortex-y soul. I read one article last year that predicted Asheville was poised to be the next Aspen — thanks to the lavish spending of our Tourism Development Agency — and the last thing I’m interested in is passing The Housewives of Some Rich City on the street.
But you can’t stop progress any more than you can stop the passage of time. You can be rigid and feel like life has passed you by, or you can be flexible and adjust to circumstances beyond your control.
As for me, I plan to be sipping a nice glass of Pinot Noir when The Mountaineer Inn opens the doors of its new-fangled wine bar this summer.
I cannot wait to have a moonshine Manhattan and some country-fried tapas with you at that place. I always wanted to stay there as a child and swim in the “cement pond!”
If I were you, I'd be petitioning my condo board to plant some evergreen trees in my backyard! You're two deciduous trees away from a full-on neon view!