ASHEVILLE, N.C. (828newsNOW) — The Preservation Society of Asheville & Buncombe County has mailed in a Study List application for the Mountaineer Inn’s inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places. The application is the first step for properties under consideration for the list.

Mounting a preservation campaign for the Mountaineer Inn

Jessie Landl, executive director of the Preservation Society, explained that the iconic Tunnel Road hotel had fallen into a debilitated state when the organization got involved.

“It’s not been in operation for a number of years now. 
It had been purchased by someone who had intended to rehabilitate it, and they did not, and they’ve had issues with break-ins and vandalism there,” Landl said. “Now, it is in foreclosure and on the market to be sold.”

There have been rumors that the inn will be purchased by various entities, including a Sheetz gas station, as 828newsNOW reported last month, or another hotel group.

Whoever the buyer is, Landl said, reinvigorating the property would be a major boon for restoring a historic part of town.

“I think that anybody that is local to town is concerned about what’s happening on Tunnel Road and the challenges facing that part of town,” Landl said. “I think it would be exciting to see some reinvestment in some of the historic properties along that corridor. Bring back the area as an exciting place to visit, to live and enjoy.”

The Preservation Society estimated that the Mountaineer Inn was originally constructed around 1952 on Tunnel Road, a stretch populated with many businesses of its ilk: rooms for rent with themed signs to advertise them. The Mountaineer Inn is still renowned for its gigantic, gun-toting mountaineer sign, and other neon-outlined figures around the property.

“The Mountaineer Inn is very much of its time. It’s a tourist court from the 50s, from the mid-century, and it has sort of that kitsch. Rustic. It’s very much of the mountains, it’s very much of Asheville, it’s very much of its time,” Landl said.

Though time has shuttered the inn, hotels remain a major part of Tunnel Road.

“It was on a corridor that was historically a corridor for tourism and continues to be that today, right?” Landl said. “You’ve got the historic motels along that road, but you also have the more modern hotels along that road.”

The Preservation Society has worked with potential buyers to explore several forms of adoptive reuse, or the process of preserving a structure while altering its use to serve a new function.

“A reuse of the building that saves the historic structure, but it gets creative with the next use. That’s something we always consider when we look at a historic property, so it would make perfect sense to be looking at the Mountaineer Inn and saying, what else can this be?” Landl said.

However, the preservationist thinks its original purpose would still be its best bet.

“As I look at it, it actually makes a lot of sense for it to remain as a hotel,” Landl said.

While break-ins have occurred at the inn, its rooms and historic details are still well-preserved, according to the Preservation Society. Even so, it would cost millions to bring the hotel back. That is where selection for the National Register of Historic Places could come into play.

“People tend to think that if something’s on the National Register, that provides some sort of protections, and it actually doesn’t,” Landl explained. “We describe National Register designation as all carrot and no stick. The carrot is that if you’re on the National Register of Historic Places, you can potentially take advantage of rehabilitation tax credits and other tax benefits.”

Landl said that if everything goes according to plan, the Mountaineer Inn could find itself on the register in about a year. However, if it makes it onto the Study List, a potential rehabilitator could proceed with a renovation with relative confidence, thanks to 30 months of retroactive tax credits guaranteed to register properties.

Even if it does not make it onto the list, Landl has hope that the right renovator will come along. The Mountaineer Inn is ready for them.

“As a preservationist who sees buildings in all conditions, I wasn’t concerned that these buildings are unsavable,” Landl said. “They’re absolutely savable.”