Asheville Council weighs future of underused city properties, historic fire station

Asheville’s latest look at two “underutilized” city properties put 300 Merrimon Avenue back in the spotlight, where the stakes go well beyond one aging building. What happens to the former fire station could affect public access, neighborhood character, historic preservation and, if the city chooses to sell or lease it, the long-term tax and housing picture along Merrimon Avenue.

The property has deep civic history. City council minutes from December 1999 referred to 300 Merrimon Avenue as Old Fire Station 4, and in June 2001 council identified it as the historic Fire Station #4, also known as the Harley Shuford Arson Task Force Building. Those same 2001 minutes said the site was listed in the National Register of Historic Places and contained one of the oldest fire training towers in the United States.

The building itself was announced in November 1926 as a $40,000 fire hall, designed by Douglas D. Ellington and built in 1927 in the Art Deco style. That makes any future use decision more complicated than a routine property sale. A new tenant, a public reuse plan or a private redevelopment concept would have to contend with the building’s historic character and whatever review applies to locally designated historic properties.

That review falls in part to Asheville’s Historic Resources Commission, created in 1979 through a local ordinance adopted by the city and Buncombe County. The city says the commission reviews projects affecting locally designated historic properties and local districts, giving it a role whenever changes could alter a site like the Merrimon Avenue fire station.

The council discussion also landed in a broader policy moment. Local reporting in 2026 showed Asheville was weighing an ordinance to expand its authority over abandoned structures that pose health or safety hazards, even when they technically meet existing codes. That effort, along with the city’s recent focus on underused assets, suggests officials are looking more closely at whether aging properties should be preserved, repurposed or moved into new ownership.

Merrimon Avenue has long been one of Asheville’s most sensitive corridors. In 2022, council approved a road diet that reduced part of the street from four lanes to three, underscoring how traffic, development pressure and neighborhood identity are already intertwined there. Any decision on 300 Merrimon Avenue would likely carry the same kind of weight, because it would shape not just a building, but the future of a prominent public site in North Asheville.