Opinion

LIGHTNING EDITORIAL: Mill appraisal is worth reading

By Bill Moss, Published: February 25, 2014

There is no reason for the city to have spent $4,500 on a new appraisal of the Grey Hosiery Mill if its governing body is going to ignore what the appraisal said.

The appraisal, by Thomas A. Steitler of Asheville, was a clear-eyed and market-oriented analysis of the value of the 1.7-acre parcel and the 99-year-old mill built by Capt. Grey. Marketwise, the bottom line was that the land is worth more without the building than with it. A sale would bring $600,000 with the mill on it and $730,000 as raw land, the appraiser said. (Total county tax value is $1,258,600.)
Two council members who sound battle fatigued over the whole mill discussion told the Hendersonville Lightning last week that they're leaning toward deeding the property to Preservation North Carolina and having the non-profit organization work with a partnership to develop loft apartments in the historic mill.
Maybe that's the best idea, maybe it's not.
But having lived through two RFPs, two appraisals and infinite public hand-wringing over the fate of the mill, the council ought to take just a tad more time and assess what they've got.
Our preference still would be an open air and inside farmers market that would draw traffic, function as a catalyst for Seventh Avenue redevelopment and potentially tie in to a greenway from Main Street (and the Ecusta Trail) to Berkeley Park. A long shot maybe. But is it more of a long shot than everything falling into place for the Grey Mill Apartments? Maybe not.
Councilman Steve Caraker made the point that when it comes time for a decision, Hendersonville residents will rise up and say they want the mill saved. The last time the mill was in a bulldozer's crosshairs was during the Mill Center for the Arts episode in 2005, when the winning design called for razing the structure. We think the disquiet over that arose from the cost of arts center, which ballooned from $12 million to $30 million, and taxpayers' concern about the long-term cost.
Is a Round 3 of an RFP an abuse of process?
It might be viewed that way if you're Jim Hall and Austin Fazio, the two local figures in the White Challis loft apartments enterprise. But the council is no more obligated to White Challis than any other bidder. Its real client is the taxpayers.
There is the risk that a winning bidder might write a check and sit on the property, figuring a couple of points a year of commercial real estate appreciation beats bonds or CDs.
But the appraisal's salient point — that the land has greater value — ought to make council members curious enough to ask the next question. What might happen on bare land that would not happen in the mill? It's a question they ought to ask.