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Paul Ellis, left, and development partner Carr Swicegood stand near a site on Long Shoals Road they are developing for retail and possible apartments. The corridor will see significant development in coming months.(Photo: John Media map not displaying on mobile? Tap here to see it.

ARDEN - When developer Carr Swicegood looks at the 6.5-acre construction site on Long Shoals Road, he sees more than just bustling heavy equipment and a future retail site.

"This is where I grew up," said Swicegood, 53. "We used to ride horses over on the Biltmore Estate. You could stand out here and not see a car go down the road for 30 minutes."

These days, you'd be lucky to see a 30-second gap between cars on the five-lane corridor, which is poised to explode in the coming months as a major commercial and retail corridor. Multiple developments are in the works for Long Shoals Road, a key connector between Hendersonville Road and Interstate 26 in south Buncombe County, including new retail, office space, apartments and a BMW dealership, which will relocate from its site on Airport Road.

Swicegood and development partner Paul Ellis, of Pulliam Properties, will add to the retail mix soon, with a project on Swicegood's childhood home and farm that will include about 52,000 square feet of retail space, done in two phases. Swicegood said Phase I will comprise 22,000 square feet of space, with the other 30,000 coming in Phase II.

They hope to have the first phase finished within about six months.

"There's a lot of good things we're bringing in," Ellis said.

"National retailers, and some locals," Swicegood added, standing in front of his childhood home and a small barn

They also plan to build 24 to 36 "very contemporary" apartments on the back side of the property in Phase II.

Another Airport Road

Ellis said the 1.8-mile strip of Long Shoals from Hendersonville Road to Interstate 26, already home to an Ingles grocery store, a CVS, a McDonald's, a SECU credit union, medical office buildings and apartments, could become "another Airport Road," although without the big box retail.

"People are coming here, whether some people like it or not," Ellis said.

The five-lane corridor certainly gets vehicular traffic, according to 2014 traffic counts from the North Carolina Department of Transportation. Long Shoals at Biltmore Park carries 34,000 vehicles a day, while just to the east the number drops to 30,000. Interstate 26 west of the interchange carries 82,000 vehicles a day at Brevard Road, while to the east the number stood at 75,000 a day.

Dr. Bill Chambers, a pediatric dentist in Asheville, said he and his business partners plan to expand their operation to Long Shoals in the coming years, partly to make access to their services easier as traffic increases. He and his real estate partners recently bought two parcels on the south side of Long Shoals on either side of Overlook Extension, one that's 1.65 acres and another that's just under 1 acre.

"We're going to put one of our offices out there in the next two years," said Chambers, who founded Great Beginnings pediatric dentistry, which has offices off Hendersonville Road near Interstate 40. "One site will be a future office site for our pediatric dental and pediatric orthodontic offices. The other site we're in process of looking at will either be medical offices or retail — which way it's going to go depends on interest and what the market is interested in."

The move will be an expansion of their current dentistry practice, not a relocation, which means they will be hiring more staff. They hope to have the new offices up and running within two years.

Long Shoals Road, like much of Asheville, is "really starting to pop," Chambers said.

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Construction continues along Long Shoals Road Thursday Dec. 3. (Photo: Maddy Media us, being in pediatric dentistry and pediatric orthodontics, we'll be across the street from 90 percent of the kids in south Buncombe, so for parents it will be extremely convenient," Chambers said. "There's a lot going on out there, and it's all on the Long Shoals corridor. Airport Road is pretty much developed as it is, so I think the next logical one is Long Shoals."

Chambers thinks it will be "a little more planned," comprising more of a mixture of professional offices and retail, without the big boxes that Airport Road boasts, which include Dick's Sporting Goods, a Walmart, a Target and a Lowe's Home Improvement store.

"I don't (think) that there is sufficient space or need for an Airport Road level of development along Long Shoals Road," said Alan Glines, assistant director of Asheville's Planning and Urban Design Department. "The community has a large residential component with a wide array of supportive community services, shopping and schools. The zoning in place for the area allows for this level of use."

He noted that he's not aware "of large scale developments in this area except for a Mission My Care" approved for Schenck Parkway and Long Shoals.

BMW plans move

Steve Gordon, general manager of the BMW of Asheville car dealership, said the Long Shoals location won't be as heavily trafficked as Airport Road, but it is ideal for them. Their main motivation for moving one exit closer to Asheville on I-26 is to be able to own their property, as they lease the property off Airport Drive now,

When they found an opportunity to buy nearly 11 acres off the Long Shoals interchange, they jumped.

"It's got a great interstate view, and an easy in and out, and it's got easy access to Biltmore Park, which a lot of our customers enjoy," Gordon said.

They've completed all the due diligence and hope to close in early 2016 on the property, which is on the southeastern side of the interchange and includes the Quality Inn hotel property.

"We're hoping (to be open there) in 18 to 24 months," Gordon said. "We've got a lot to do — tear down a hotel and build a dealership and get through all the permitting."

Developer Rusty Atlas, who splits his time between Florida and Asheville, recently closed on a 7.7-acre tract on Long Shoals between the Swicegood/Ellis development and the Ingles. Ellis' company, Pulliam Properties, brokered the $3.8-million deal.

Atlas said "there's nothing wrong" with an Airport Road, "but that's not my thing." A self-described "tree hugger," Atlas said he's hired a land planner, an architect and an arborist, but they are in the preliminary planning stages for the site, which is heavily wooded, with some of the trees over a hundred years old.

"The bottom line is we're going to work with as much of the existing landscaping and topography as possible," Atlas said. "We're going to preserve as many trees as possible. We're hoping to build smaller retail buildings where possible. It'll be a very environmentally friendly development that respects the landscape, the mountains and the surroundings."

He will also respect the local economy, emphasizing local retailers wherever possible.

"I'm in no hurry," Atlas said, noting that he did a similar development in Miami that had nearly all local tenants. "I know that's very big part of the culture here, and I think that's a great part of the local culture."

Other upcoming projects

Retail development — Developers Carr Swicegood and Paul Ellis are building 52,000 square feet of retail space on 6.5 acres on the southeastern side of Long Shoals near the Lake Julian power plant. Phase I, planned to be built within six months, will comprise 22,000 square feet of space, with the other 30,000 coming in Phase II. Tenants will include a mix of local and national retailers, including a locally owned nail salon and a Donatos pizza restaurant, a national chain.

Another developer, Rusty Atlas, has closed on a 7.7-acre tract on Long Shoals between the Swicegood/Ellis development and the Ingles, and he plans to develop it for retail space, with an emphasis on local companies. He also wants to keep as many old-growth trees as possible and have the retail buildings fit in with the topography. No timetable on development has been set.

Also, Bojangle's plans to build another restaurant on this stretch.

BMW of Asheville dealership — Now located off the Airport Road exit three miles east of Long Shoals on Interstate 26, the dealership will move to the Long Shoals interchange. BMW of Asheville expects to close in January on 11 acres, which includes a hotel property that will close and other acreage of the southeast side of the interchange. Opening is expected in 18 to 24 months.

Offices/possible retail — Dr. Bill Chambers and his partners plan to expand their pediatric dentistry and orthodontics practice, Great Beginnings, to a site on Long Shoals at Overlook Drive Extension. Through two limited liability corporations, C&B Toothland of Long Shoals and C&B Toothland of Overlook Extension, they plan to build 75,000 to 85,000 square feet of medical office space, as well as an undetermined amount of possible retail space.

Apartments — Swicegood and Ellis also plan to build 24 to 36 contemporary-style apartments on the back side of their property, near Lake Julian.

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