In a city like Asheville where there are so many exciting projects in the works, it can be a challenge to keep everything straight: what’s been proposed, approved, and what’s coming… and then there are those buildings that seem like they pop up overnight like mushrooms.

We’re keeping tabs on what’s new on our skyline for you, and highlighting the projects that will enhance our community, especially those adding to our thriving arts + culture scene. Here are a few of the renovations, expansions + fresh constructions we’re excited about –

Foundation Studios

📍 27 Foundy St. #10

The newly renovated space in the Foundation area of the River Arts District (by Summit Coffee + 12 Bones) will have 20+ artist studios, two additional gallery spaces + daily classes and workshops.

The project is spearheaded + curated by Modern Wave Gallery’s owner Reid Dawson, who said in an Instagram post that the new concept is built “by the community, for the community.” Home furnishing store Sunnyside Trading Company also just opened their 11,000-square-foot showroom + warehouse in the space as well.

The Asheville Art Museum

📍 2 S. Pack Square

New and improved – The Asheville Art Museum, originally founded in 1948, has been shut down since 2018 for a facelift.

Visitors to the new museum can look forward to a new glass entrance, expanded gallery + exhibition space, a rooftop sculpture terrace with a cafe, new studios and classrooms + more. The total renovated space will be 68,000 square feet and will preserve, restore + rebuild elements of the structure. And – the permanent collection exhibition size will increase by 70%. Only 3% of the permanent collection could be exhibited pre-renovation.

The museum enlisted New York-based Ennead Architects for the project; the firm specializes in master planning, interior design + historic preservation with a distinctly modern twist.

The museum will re-open in spring, though an exact date has yet to be announced. In the meantime, you can still get your culture fix at the Asheville Art Museum on the Slope (175 Biltmore Ave.), a temporary museum pop-up.

The Center for Craft

📍 67 Broadway St.

On the heels of announcing its endowment of nearly $6 million from the Windgate Foundation, the Center for Craft has even more news: a new Craft Innovation Hub. The 7,000-square-foot addition will include classrooms, lecture space, workshops, an artist “parklet,” and a coworking space. The Center received $975,000 in funding from the Buncombe County Tourist Development Authority grant package to revamp its existing gallery space as well as break new ground.

According to the Center for Craft, the Hub will be the final puzzle piece in completing a “cultural gateway,” connecting the arts + culture organizations along the Broadway-Pack Square-Biltmore cultural corridor.

LEAF Global Arts Center

📍 70 S. Market St.

Last fall, LEAF was named as a recipient of funding from the Tourism Development Authority’s annual grant package. Funds will go towards a mini-theatre, a global immersion room with virtual reality, an underground sound room with instruments from all around the world + a small stage for DIY performances.

The new space charts at 3,300 square feet in the historic Del Cardo Building at Eagle and Market St. (in the future Eagle Street Marketplace development), and will shine an even brighter spotlight on music, art + culture from around the world. An opening date has yet to be announced.

We’re huge fans of the arts over here at AVLtoday, and personally, I couldn’t be more excited about the Asheville Art Museum reopening. I’m especially excited to see how that glass atrium looks when Pack Square is lit up at night. 👀

Let us know which projects you’re most excited for, and if there’s anything else on your radar. Reply to this email or send us a note on Instagram or Facebook.

— Stephanie