Asheville committee encourages 'expedited' process to address Ramada Inn housing project

ASHEVILLE - After the Ramada Inn was lost to foreclosure in December, the city of Asheville Homeless Initiative Advisory Committee has now unanimously voted to encourage the city and the newly formed Asheville-Buncombe Continuum of Care to expedite the process of finding a new partner to bring permanent supportive housing to the East Asheville location.

Community and Economic Development Director Nikki Reid presented on the project during the May 9 HIAC meeting and said she is currently working on determining the criteria for a potential buyer for the property.

"Now, my focus is shifting to really understanding what criteria we would need to receive from any potential buyer on applying for that funding," Reid said, noting that city staff is looking at different partnership models from the North Carolina Housing Finance Agency to ensure that "this next go around is something that we can really lean into."

Reid also said the process will include further communication with the Asheville-Buncombe Continuum of Care Board, or CoC, which will have its first board meeting on May 23. The process will also consider relending $1.5 million originally designated for the project.

The full story of the Ramada Inn: Will East Asheville's Ramada remain housing for homeless after foreclosure?

The inn at 148 River Ford Parkway had been purchased by the California-based Shangri-La in 2022 and the city has deed restricted the location as permanent supportive housing for the next 50 years. Permanent supportive housing is provided to those who are adults living with disabilities or experiencing homelessness.

Shangri-La Industries defaulted on the property in December, after it was unable to make payments on its $6.3 million loan while facing lawsuits in California and North Carolina, as reported by the Citizen Times. Stormfield Capital subsequently foreclosed on the property.

HIAC chair David Nash, former CEO of the Housing Authority of the City of Asheville, encouraged an "expedited process" to make sure the city and Asheville-Buncombe Continuum of Care would be able to establish the project by "next spring."

Stormfield Capital had previously told the Citizen Times the company intends to sell the property to a buyer who would follow through with the permanent supportive housing project. The Citizen Times reached out to Stormfield May 9.

"I understand that the lender is ready to move with something if we can make it happen," Nash said, encouraging the creation committee through the CoC to complete the project with a new partner.

Reid said city staff recently met with the lender during a site visit to the Ramada Inn, but the company had not yet expressed whether there were potential applicants to purchase the site.

The request to expedite the Ramada Inn project comes shortly after city staff released point in time data April 25 indicating the unsheltered population during the January 2024 count was around 219 people in Asheville. The increase from 2023 to 2024 is likely due to the record-breaking number of volunteers and an updated methodology, Homeless Strategy Division Manager Emily Ball said during the meeting, noting the new PIT data is a "strong start for the new Continuum of Care."

Ball wanted to temper community expectations on the pace of the Ramada project.

"I don't know that 12 months from now is feasible, including the program and construction," Ball said during the meeting, noting the length of time other Asheville-area permanent supportive housing projects, like Compass Point Village, took to develop.

Since the property's foreclosure, more lawsuits have been filed against and by Shangri-La.

The company filed a lawsuit in February against former Chief Financial Officer Cody Holmes, as reported by the Ventura County Star, part of the USA TODAY network. The suit is seeking $40 million in damages from the former CFO, claiming Holmes had made a series of "embezzling transactions" from Shangri-La and had hid the financial state of the company from CEO Andy Meyers and its board.

Meyers, who is still CEO of Shangri-La, and Holmes, who was fired in January, according to the lawsuit, declined to comment for the Ventura County Star article about the lawsuit. Shangri-La could not be reached for comment by the Citizen Times on May 9.

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Will Hofmann is the Growth and Development Reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA Today Network. Got a tip? Email him at [email protected]. Please help support this type of journalism with a subscription to the Citizen Times.

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Asheville committee requests 'expedited' process to address Ramada Inn