Suspect arrested after overnight fire destroys Woodfin coffee shop

High Five Coffee’s Woodfin cafe took a second devastating hit before the first recovery could settle in: the riverside shop that had already been damaged by Tropical Storm Helene was destroyed by an overnight fire, leaving a total loss at 2000 Riverside Drive behind The Mill at Riverside.

Woodfin police and fire crews were called to the structure fire around 1 a.m. Thursday, and investigators later used surveillance video to identify a suspect. Officers arrested Nicholas Hunter Grigsby of Valley Park Drive after a brief foot chase. He was charged with felony burning of a commercial building and violating a domestic violence protective order, then held at the Buncombe County Detention Facility under a $100,000 bond. Police said additional charges were expected.

No injuries were reported, but the loss lands hard in a town still working through the long recovery from Helene. High Five Coffee had only recently reopened at the Woodfin location, which first opened in the spring of 2017 and had become a familiar stop again for residents, commuters and visitors moving through the French Broad River corridor. The blaze shut down that return and put the future of the cafe back in doubt.

The building’s destruction carries extra weight because the same site was heavily damaged when Helene hit in September 2024. Prior reporting said the storm sent roughly 4 feet of standing water into the cafe, and later coverage noted the French Broad River rose about 24 feet during the storm. That history makes the overnight fire more than a one-business loss; it is another setback for a stretch of Woodfin that has been trying to regain footing after repeated disruption.

High Five Coffee is a family-owned small business with three Asheville-area locations, including downtown Asheville and Montford, and the Woodfin shop had been one of the clearest symbols of its comeback. Town officials said they would support the owners and operators of High Five Coffee as the investigation continues.

The fire also comes as Buncombe County and its municipal partners continue work on a Helene Recovery Plan that includes 114 projects, among them 17 in Woodfin. For a community still rebuilding along Riverside Drive and the banks of the French Broad, the loss of a recently reopened cafe is a stark reminder that recovery can be undone in a single night.