Citizen Portal
Sign In

'Boosting the Block' moves toward design: Mellon grant and $1 million in bond funds to advance South Market gateway and pedestrian upgrades

City of Asheville Planning, Economic Development, and Environment Committee · December 17, 2025

Loading...

AI-Generated Content: All content on this page was generated by AI to highlight key points from the meeting. For complete details and context, we recommend watching the full video. so we can fix them.

Summary

City staff and contracted community facilitators reported on 'Boosting the Block,' a Mellon Foundation‑funded initiative to implement Pack Square Plaza recommendations; the project will leverage $1,000,000 from the transportation bond to design integrated pedestrian safety and a cultural corridor on Eagle and South Market, with a design contract expected before council in early 2026.

City planning staff and contracted community facilitators told the committee on Dec. 16 that the "Boosting the Block" project is advancing toward a formal design phase that will combine cultural‑corridor placemaking with pedestrian‑safety improvements on Eagle and South Market.

Downtown planning manager Dana Frankel said the project is one of three funded by the Mellon Foundation to implement recommendations from the Pack Square Plaza vision work. Staff plan to use $1,000,000 in transportation bond funding allocated for pedestrian safety on Eagle and South Market to deliver an integrated capital project that includes a gateway feature, sidewalk accessibility improvements and gathering spaces linked to a cultural corridor.

Contracted facilitators Dr. Margaret Brunson and Britney Bennett Weston summarized 18 months of engagement, including more than 30 stakeholder meetings, youth‑focused sessions, pop‑up activations and a learning trip to New Orleans to study cultural district practices and partnerships. Facilitators emphasized relationship building, pacing after Tropical Storm Helene, and centering the community's story in design work.

Design priorities emerging from engagement include telling the full historical and cultural narrative of the block, creating safe and flexible gathering areas, and ensuring economic supports for Black‑owned and local businesses in the corridor. Frankel said staff intend to initiate an RFQ for a design and engineering team and bring a contract to council in early 2026.

Next steps: advertise and evaluate RFQ responses, continue community coordination with the Block Collaborative and other partners, and present a design contract for council authorization in early 2026.