ASHEVILLE, N.C. — A 115-year-old building at downtown Asheville southern entrance will become a boutique hotel next year, as the GBX Group converts the Flora Sorrell Boarding House at 100 Biltmore Ave. into a 10-room property expected to open next fall.
Built in 1911, the structure first operated as a boarding house under Flora McDonald Sorrell and most recently as the Gray Rock Inn. Cleveland-based GBX, which has taken on 22 Asheville projects in recent years, is partnering with Asheville-based Buchanan Construction and Carleton Collins Architecture. Company development president Jeff Prioreschi said the stone and brick exterior will be cleaned and restored, while fireplaces, the stairwell and wood floors stay. The Bunkum Stone marker in the front yard, tied to former U.S. Rep. Felix Walker and Buncombe County speeches that helped coin the word bunkum, will keep its place.
The floor plan shifts from shared bathrooms to private baths in three studio rooms, five one-bedroom units and two two-bedroom suites. Nightly rates are expected around $150 for studios and $300 for suites. Designer Tim McLendon is shaping a second-floor lobby with a musical theme meant to honor the nearby Orange Peel, and porch renovations could let guests hear concerts from across the street. Long-term Gray Rock Inn residents relocated to another GBX property.
Biltmore Avenue / Hendersonville Road is listed as the South Asheville corridor, and Biltmore Village sits just south of downtown along those roads next to the Biltmore Estate entrance. The boarding house project sits on that same Biltmore Avenue spine that feeds tourism retail between downtown and the estate gateway.
GBX is positioning the small suite-oriented hotel as a niche stay rather than a large chain property on the south downtown approach.
