ASHEVILLE — One more step.

Plans to redevelop downtown Asheville's historic Flatiron Building are headed for final approval after passing the latest test at the city's Planning and Zoning Commission on April 8.

Even amid continued criticism by neighbors and residents, the commission in a 4-2 vote approved developer Philip Woollcott's plan for the nearly century old building at 20 Battery Park Ave.

Woollcott, an Asheville native now living in Charleston, South Carolina, has proposed with building owner Russell Thomas a project that converts the Flatiron into an 80-room boutique hotel with restaurants and a speakeasy bar.

Woollcott and Thomas, as well as their attorney Wyatt Stevens, argue the project is essential in preserving the aging structure. They say it's not financially viable to make millions of dollars of necessary upgrades and also keep it a hub for small businesses, as it has been for much of its history.

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"It's on par with the Grove Arcade building, it's on par with this building (Asheville City Hall) and it's one of those pieces of public art that makes Asheville what it is," Stevens said at the April 8 meeting.

"We firmly believe the only way to save this building is through this project."

Project had city staff backing

The project came to Planning and Zoning without full support from the city's planning staff, which noted it makes "necessary and high quality upgrades to this iconic historic structure." But they also have concerns about the lack of identified off-site parking for guests and employees, about displacing some 80 small-business tenants from the building and about the volume of existing hotels near the Flaitron property.

The staff report shows if it were to be approved, it's in the public interest because of the historic rehabilitation effort and due to proposed streetscape enhancements — including widening the sidewalk and shifting over a public crosswalk — on Battery Park Avenue.

"There’s high-quality and necessary upgrades to this building, but there are concerns about potential compatibility impacts," city urban planner Jessica Bernstein said.

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Stevens swatted down concerns about dislocating tenants, offering up some 88,000 square feet of comparable office space downtown, including within the historic Jackson Building in Pack Square. He said displaced tenants, most of whom are there on a month-to-month basis, will receive a check from the developer for their rent based on how long the business has been in the Flatiron.

If it's three months, "they get a check for three months' rent," he said.

The group also trotted out a nearly seven-minute video — complete with drone footage of the building and upbeat music blaring — featuring Woollcott, Thomas and about a half-dozen supporters of the effort. It includes Jack Thomson, executive director of the Preservation Society of Asheville and Buncombe County, who noted the project's importance in lending the property a new lease on life.

"We don’t want these buildings to die a death of a thousand cuts," Thomson said.

Opponents, supporters speak out

But like with earlier stops in the development process, the effort has its opponents. Of the 15 people to speak during public comment, most were against it or otherwise expressed concerns about aspects of the development.

Asheville resident Rik Schell, of Purl's Yarn Emporium on Wall Street, argued the city must do more to bring locals downtown instead of passing lodging proposals he says are for tourists.

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"One hotel is not the problem; we need to do the hard work and look at the bigger solutions," Schell said. "When they tell you this is the only solution and there's no other way of doing it, they're coming in with their thousand-dollar suits and thousand-dollar videos and giving you the snow job."

Schell briefly shouted at the commission at the conclusion of the meeting for what he saw as catering to development interests rather than the needs of the community.

But it also saw some support from Stephen West, owner of the neighboring Miles Building; Asheville resident Karen Ramshaw and local historian and Wall Street business owner Kevan Frazier.

Ramshaw recalled for the commission the early 1980s effort to shut down a mall proposal that was planned for downtown, an effort that would have impacted the area around Lexington Park. She said that was an important defense of the city's heritage — which, like the Flatiron Building project, "protects our history."

"We here in Asheville are at risk of believing our own press in thinking we can hold out for something better, undefined as that is," she said. "The reality is there's not a huge subset of developers willing or capable to take on a preservation project like this one.

"Kicking the can down the road is likely to put this building on ice for a decade, and time is not this building's friend."

Will Asheville City Council OK the plan?

The Flatiron's prospects of passing at City Council would seem to have improved in recent months. In consecutive meetings in March, council narrowly approved two new hotels on the city's South Slope: a 103-room Extended Stay Hotel at 324 Biltmore Ave. and Family Lodge, a 56-room hotel and mixed-use development at 155 Biltmore Ave.

The process has become increasingly difficult for hoteliers dating back to an Oct. 23 meeting, during which several members voiced concerns about the pace of lodging development in Asheville. Some including Mayor Esther Manheimer and Councilman Brian Haynes argued development was coming at the expense of greater needs in the community such as affordable housing or infrastructure upgrades.

In October, Haynes effectively called for a moratorium on approving hotels. He hasn't voted for one since.

But in the days following that meeting, the Buncombe County Tourism Development Authority, which manages some $23 million in annual hotel occupancy taxes, voted to temporarily suspend its Tourism Product Development Fund grant cycle. The board since hired a consultant group to lay the groundwork for the next decade of investments from the TPDF, in ways area tourism leaders say would be more strategic to meet local needs.

In the past two decades, the TPDF has awarded $44 million to 39 projects, including multiple investments to the John B. Lewis Soccer Complex, Pack Square Park and the U.S. Cellular Center in downtown Asheville.

Both hotels approved in March passed on 4-3 votes. With Haynes, Vice Mayor Gwen Wisler voted against both. Council members Keith Young and Sheneika Smith voted for one apiece. Manheimer and members Julie Mayfield and Vijay Kapoor approved both.

Young said he's now reserving his yes vote for developers willing to do more than build hotel rooms.

"I would like to see more developers working in and out of the city providing more affordable housing, working with the city and understanding the needs of the community and not just taking away," he said.

The last hotel approved before the temporary stoppage in October was a 106-room Mainstay Suites at 511 Brevard Road, which came on a 4-2 vote — with Kapoor absent — from a meeting earlier that month.