River Arts District artists face rising rents during recovery

A 420-square-foot studio on Roberts Street is listed at $1,375 a month, while another River Arts District space the size of a 10-by-10 room is advertised at $850. The pricier listing includes air conditioning, utilities, internet, parking, gallery display space and a half-month refundable security deposit; the cheaper one comes with a 20% sales commission, required gallery work shifts and about 14 linear feet of wall space.

ArtsAVL’s July 2026 follow-up survey of 97 grant recipients found that 87.6% were fully open and 9.3% were partially open. About 39% of respondents were above pre-Helene revenue levels, nearly 30% were still 1% to 24% below, and about 26% were 25% or more below where they were before the storm. Since Helene, ArtsAVL has distributed more than $2 million in relief and recovery funding to artists and arts businesses across the region.

Helene damaged or destroyed more than 300 artist studios and affected more than 750 working artists; by July 2025, about 350 artists were back in action and the Upper RAD had fully reopened. River Arts District Artists counts more than 500 artists as having returned to create and exhibit in reopened studios and galleries, and emergency grants reached more than 750 artists after the storm.

Before the storm, ArtsAVL estimated the RAD drew about 12.5 million visitors a year and contained almost 300 artists across 23 buildings and 2 square miles, and rising rents were already pushing artists out. The City of Asheville brought in the Urban Land Institute for a free advisory panel focused on the French Broad and Swannanoa river corridors, including the RAD, and RiverLink, Unified RAD and Sasaki held redevelopment workshops in August 2025.