Asheville City Council unanimously approved plans for a Costco warehouse store in Enka Tuesday, a major step toward construction of a project that had appeared dead in February.
Costco plans to break ground on its proposed 168,258-square-foot building next summer with a goal of opening in spring 2028, company official Renee Rutherford told Council during its regular meeting. The project will include 32 gas pumps and as many as 950 parking spaces on property between Sand Hill Road and Smokey Park Highway.
The store will provide well-paid jobs and will help area residents pressed by rising prices, Mayor Esther Manheimer said.
Costco first proposed the store in 2025, but then dropped the idea in February of this year, saying it would be too expensive to comply with city and state requirements. Council’s vote Tuesday included some exceptions to city zoning rules, including those governing tree cover and the proportion of the building’s walls to include windows.
Costco’s plans, which include improvements to nearby roads to accommodate a projected increase in traffic, must still be approved by the state Department of Transportation.
“We are hearing from struggling families and households about the cost of living and the need for anything and everything that we can do … to make life more affordable for people here in Asheville,” Manheimer said during Tuesday’s meeting. “So I’m glad to be able to lighten the load a little bit for folks by bringing this opportunity to Asheville.”
The mayor and other city officials lobbied Costco to revive its proposal and Costco’s local attorney, Derek Allen, thanked Manheimer and others Tuesday for smoothing the path for the project.
Allen told Council that the company’s stores have several beneficial impacts on areas where they are located.
“One is, grocery prices will go down. Another is that wages will go up. Another is gas prices will go down. And that’s not just around the store, that’s in the community,” he said.
Allen said the company pays above-average wages for retail jobs and offers a generous benefits package to full-time workers and many part-time employees.
A typical Costco store employs 225 to 250 people to start and that figure rises to around 400 over time, Allen said.
Costco is a membership store similar to Sam’s Club. Its basic membership costs $65 per year.
Company figures show a strong demand for a local Costco store, Allen said. There are 19,000 Costco members within a 45-minute drive of the Enka site, he said, and they typically drive to Costco stores in South Carolina and Tennessee to shop.
The impact of those and other shoppers was a concern for two Candler residents who spoke about their concerns over traffic issues during a public hearing before Tuesday’s vote.
“I’m very much in favor of Costco coming to Asheville, I just don’t think the Enka site is the right one,” Mike Krakov said. “Along with my fellow commuters, I’m already losing hours of my life sitting in traffic” between his home in Candler and job in Asheville, he said, and the influx of Costco shoppers will only make that problem worse.
A traffic impact study done for Costco indicates that drivers passing through some intersections in the area experience significant delays at current traffic levels. It recommended several changes to help with traffic flow, including construction of additional turn lanes at two intersections.
The state Department of Transportation is reviewing Costco’s proposed improvements to the roads in the area around the site and expects to decide next month whether those changes are sufficient, DOT spokesman David Uchiyama said before Tuesday’s meeting. If state engineers feel the improvements are inadequate, that could prompt further discussions with Costco about what other alterations to roads might be needed.
Work is underway now to improve Exit 44, where Smokey Park Highway passes underneath Interstate 40. Manheimer said after the meeting that DOT is considering adding more components to the project to help traffic flow but funding for the extra work is uncertain.
Project plans show one entrance to the site on Sand Hill Road and another via Jacob Holm Way, which intersects Smokey Park Highway after crossing Hominy Creek. A 10-foot-wide pedestrian and bicycle path will snake through the site, running beside the old Enka clock tower. The tower is a local landmark dating from the days when a huge textile mill was located on the property and will be preserved.
City rules require developers in most cases to preserve or plant trees on a portion of a project site or pay a fee in lieu of compliance. Costco’s landscaping plans include numerous trees but fall short of the city requirement. City Council approved an exception for the project. During the public comment period of the meeting, two speakers said the city should not ease its rules on tree planting for the project.
Karen MacNeil, chair of the city’s Urban Forestry Commission, worried about the message that waiver sends “to smaller locally owned businesses who have not asked for this type of waiver and have chosen instead to follow our city’s development guidelines,” she said during public comment. She said the Costco plans raise the specter of future exceptions for other projects.
Costco attorney Allen said the company would exceed tree requirements if it were allowed to include trees located on the store site but outside city limits. City Attorney Brad Branham said much of the Costco site has underground contamination with measures in place to prevent its spread. Under state law, those areas cannot be disturbed without great expense, even for tree planting, he said.
The Costco approval sets no legal precedent for Council decisions on other projects, he said.
Council is also allowing Costco to have windows on a smaller area of its building and a smaller number of bicycle parking spaces, 50, than city rules ordinarily require.
Homeless funds, downtown work
Council also approved Tuesday:
–A change in rules governing $4.7 million in federal funds the Asheville Regional Housing Consortium was awarded in 2021 but has not yet spent.
City government provides staffing for the consortium, which comprises four area counties. The change will give preference for certain housing services for people left homeless by Hurricane Helene, to get $1 million of the award.
Spending the money was delayed by federal requirements to develop a plan for spending and by burdens Helene placed on city staff, city spokeswoman Kim Miller told BPR. The city initially received no applicants for $3 million in funding to build affordable housing. It plans to open another application period in November and December, she said.
–Spending $90,000 on new solar-lit wreaths to be erected along downtown streets during the holiday season. Council also approved $175,000 for measures to reduce the impact planned construction projects will have on businesses downtown.
The money comes from sales tax revenue that flows to the city’s downtown business improvement district. The construction projects include sidewalk restoration on North Lexington Avenue, streetscape work on Coxe Avenue and enhancements to Eagle and Market streets.
–Modifications to a previously approved affordable housing subdivision to be developed by Asheville Area Habitat for Humanity on property adjoining West Chapel Road in Shiloh. It will include five single-family homes and 18 townhomes.
More
Video of Tuesday’s meeting is available here and supporting documents and presentations are here. Council will hold a special meeting at 4:30 p.m. Oct. 27 to appoint a new city clerk, followed by its regular formal meeting at 5 p.m. Both will be on the second floor of City Hall. Council will hold a strategic planning retreat 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Oct. 29 in the banquet hall of Harrah’s Cherokee Center - Asheville at 87 Haywood St.