Developer Floats Plans for Pair of Haywood Park High-Rises

With The Ellington’s 23-story profile primed to redefine the Asheville skyline, now comes word that another downtown developer also has his eye on the sky.

The owner of a 2-acre property consisting of the Haywood Park complex and adjacent parcels hopes to redevelop the site and add two 20+ story towers, according to those who’ve seen the initial plans. The strategically placed property—bordered by Battery Park and Page avenues, and Haywood Street—lies near the heart of downtown.

Plans to redevelop the Haywood Park Hotel and nearby properties downtown might include two buildings 20 stories or taller.

One would be a hotel on Page Avenue, the other residential condominiums closer to Haywood Street, according to descriptions of early plans.

The buildings were on preliminary plans that local developer Tony Fraga showed to more than 100 downtown business owners and residents in meetings last week, several people involved in the meetings said.

ASHEVILLE - The owner of Westgate shopping center has purchased downtown's Haywood Park complex for $18.5 million and is eyeing changes to the property.

The complex includes the 33-room Haywood Park Hotel, the Flying Frog Café, adjoining office, several retail locations and about 125 parking spaces. The purchase is one of the largest downtown in recent memory.

View From the Top
Business Section

Name: Tony Fraga.

Age: 64.

Position: President of FIRC Group Inc., developer.

Job responsibilities: Hands-on supervision of all development projects.

Description of your organization: Real estate development, construction and management.

Number of employees: 51.

Lives in: Biltmore Lake, where I split my time. I also have a home and business interests in Miami.

Originally from: Havana, Cuba.

ASHEVILLE -- Tony Fraga got tired of waiting for the state Department of Transportation to decide whether to build a bypass of Smoky Park Bridge through his Westgate Shopping Center.

So he made a decision of his own: Renovate the center and add condominiums and some small shops and office space.

Fraga said renovations and landscaping improvements should start this year, even though a DOT decision on where a new freeway should go is more than 18 months away. The rest of the $50 million project, subject to city government approval, would follow over a two- or three-year period, he said.

Alexander W. Fraga – Principal and vice president of FIRC Group

ENKA -- A developer is making plans for a mixed-use development here designed to take advantage of the influx of new residents -- and buying power -- that Biltmore Lake and other new residential subdivisions have brought to Enka-Candler.

Tony Fraga, whose FIRC Group owns Westgate shopping center near downtown Asheville, says he will invest about $100 million in a development to be called Main Street at Biltmore Lake. Fraga also is involved in development in south Florida and elsewhere.