Asheville, HACA and PEAK Academy plan Deaverview master plan

Asheville, the Housing Authority of the City of Asheville and Asheville PEAK Academy are moving to map nearly 60 acres in Deaverview, a plan that could reshape West Asheville with at least 340 affordable homes, a 4-acre educational campus and new parks and green space. The city said it is looking to use disaster recovery dollars for the planning work, tying the effort to federal hurricane recovery money already headed to Asheville.

The project centers on public land in Deaverview and follows a Purpose Built Communities model, a framework that pairs housing with education, recreation and other neighborhood supports. In the city’s framing, the master plan would guide future development rather than simply add apartments. The school piece would anchor the plan around PEAK Academy, a tuition-free public charter school in Asheville.

The concept is not starting from scratch. Asheville City Council approved a $1.6 million land purchase on April 13, 2021 for a 21-acre property at 65 Ford St., a parcel that was folded into the larger 60-acre vision for a purpose-built community. That land sits adjacent to other public property and the existing Deaverview Apartments, creating the footprint that planners are now trying to organize into a single neighborhood plan.

Deaverview Apartments itself is a long-established HACA property at 275 Deaverview Road, Asheville, NC 28806, in walking distance of the Patton Avenue business district. HACA describes the site as a family-oriented community with 1- to 3-bedroom townhome-style units. Citizen Times previously reported the complex was first constructed in 1971, underscoring how much of the housing stock in the area is already more than five decades old.

Earlier redevelopment discussions for Deaverview were more narrowly focused on replacement housing. Prior plans described by local outlets called for 82 new apartments in a first phase, followed by demolition of the existing 160 units. The newer master plan broadens that vision, adding the educational campus, park space and a larger neighborhood framework around the housing. It also fits into Asheville’s wider post-Helene recovery picture after federal officials approved the city’s plan for $225 million in Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery funds.