Asheville Food Park opens soon with bar, food trucks

The French Broad River corridor is booming.

The tubing traffic on the French Broad River on warm weekends mirrors the backup on the Bowen Bridge. The parking for the Bywater spills down Riverside Drive.

Realtor and developer Dean Pistor said he saw the influx coming. That's why he invested in a derelict property on the corner of State Street and Amboy Road, which is soon to see the opening of the Asheville Food Park.

"A lot of people would come by and say, have you lost your mind?" Pistor said. "Tear that building down."

The park will serve as a home for several food trucks, providing them with food storage, a kitchen, and a space to vend year-round. It will also be a vending space for artists and produce vendors and will see eclectic businesses from boutique pop-up shops to sausage vendors.

And, come July, it will be home to Cascade Bar, a locally run craft beer and cocktail lounge, and the second location for Edna's of Asheville, a beloved coffee shop that opened four years ago on Merrimon Avenue.

Though the building is within view of the river, much of the focus will be on Mead Creek, which flows down the length of the property, giving the Food Park about 300 feet of creek frontage, a shady space for food trucks and dining.

"There's green space in between, a fire pit way in the back and more green space all up front, so basically you have a long park setting that meanders along the creek for dining and drinking," Pistor said.

Corey Israel from the Isis Restaurant and Music Hall and Trevor Smith, previously of Tupelo Honey, will run the Cascade Bar, bringing the craft cocktail experience to the river without the downtown prices.

"It can be done cheaper, and I think that's going to be part of our draw," Israel said.

Both Israel and Smith are focused on creating a "flexible" atmosphere, one that can cater to residents of the nearby neighborhoods, kayakers coming off the river and weekend tubing tourists.

"The atmosphere will be accessible to everyone, considering it will serve as the beverages for the Food Park," Smith said. "It's not just going to be rowdy, or family, or a West Asheville bar; it's going to cater to anyone who feels like coming in there."

As the Cascade Bar will be equipped to handle the night owls who stay out until 2 a.m., Edna's will open for the people who rise for the day just hours later.

Opening at 6 a.m., Edna's will serve locally roasted coffee, scratch-baked goods, smoothies and root beer made in the building by an artisan soda maker. Vegetables will come from the produce vendor who will set up in the park.

Mike Zukoski, co-owner of Edna's, is a potter, so it's fitting he'd open the second location of his 4-year-old coffee shop on the edge of the River Arts District. The coffee shop should have a river theme and a plan to support local artists.

"Asheville has not historically embraced the river as much as it should have," Zukowski said.

But with the new Adventure Center coming to Amboy Road, the influx of tourists coming to the area and the ever-creeping footprint of the River Arts District, that's poised to change even more.

"As a Realtor who's been working in this market since '89, I've always had a huge desire to see the River District transform," Pistor said. "I've been watching it since before the Bywater even had a vision to open there. I have expected it to blow up."

Pistor's vision didn't steer him wrong.

A $100,000 grant in 2010 from the Buncombe County Tourism Development Authority has paved the way for the Smoky Mountain Adventure Center, which broke ground at 173 Amboy Road last year.

Additionally, Duke Energy is working to develop pedestrian access to Carrier Park, which is directly across the street from the Food Truck Park. That increased foot traffic should lead people straight to Pistor's park.

Even so, the challenges to working with the property have been "overwhelming," Pistor said.

"All of the different things from the stream buffer to the floodplain to the zoning to not having frontage on Amboy Road because of the easement from the power line — there's a long list of issues with the site, but the city helped me get through those to design something that worked with that site."

The Asheville Food Park should open in mid July. Food trucks will be listed at www.ashevillefoodpark.com when the website is live.

The Asheville Food Park will be at 235 Amboy Road, across from Carrier Park.