Answer Man: New buildings going up in Arden?

Today’s batch of burning questions, my smart-aleck answers and the real deal:

Question: I live down south of Asheville, and I'm curious about some buildings taking shape on Hendersonville Road. One is a steel-framed building going up on Hendersonville Road near St. Barnabas Catholic Church. What is that going to be? The other site is farther north, near the corner of Hendersonville Road and Heywood Road. What is that going to be?

My answer: I'll answer this question, but first, my burning question: What have I got to do to get a Taco Bell near my house?

Real answer: Let's start with the development by Heywood Road.

"It would be a Quality Plus gas station," said Mike Robb, marketing director for the Winston-Salem based Quality Oil company. "We have several in the area already."

Quality Oil operates stations on Sweeten Creek Road in South Asheville and Smokey Park Highway in West Asheville, and it has locations in Mills River, Maggie Valley and Hendersonville, among others.

Quality Plus stations are known in part for having managers who live on site, but this particular location, which is a pretty tight location, will not have that.

The company does like the area, though.

"We really love the Asheville area," said Daniel Dinsbeer, vice president of real estate for Quality Oil, noting that the company also has a hospitality wing that built the Hilton Garden Inn hotel in downtown Asheville. "We thought that area is one of the main corridors leading in and out of Asheville."

That section of Hendersonville Road had an average daily traffic count of 27,500 vehicles in 2018, according to the North Carolina Department of Transportation.

The Quality Plus will open some time in December, Dinsbeer said. The station will have five pumps, and tobacco products and other convenience items will be available via a drive through window.

By the way, a smaller lot that is being graded on the corner of Hendersonville Road and Heywood Road is owned by another company and not part of the Quality Oil project. It's less than an acre, so an erosion control permit is not required, said Jason Guess, an erosion control technician with Buncombe County. 

"What we know right now is this is supposed to be a potential commercial site, and they're bringing in fill material to build the lot up to road level," Guess said, adding that they don't have any indication of what the eventual development may be.

Tax records indicate the site is owned by Windaade LLC in Asheville.

Now, let's travel farther south and find out what the development at Hendersonville Road near the intersection of Crescent Hill Road is going to be.

Drum roll please ... it's not a brew pub!

This will be an H&E Equipment Services construction rental facility.

"This will be a relocation from where we are now, at 99 Underwood Road," said Matt Guffey, H&E branch manager. That current location is just off I-26 not far from Apple Tree Honda.

H&E mainly services the construction industry and contractors, with rentals, sales, service and parts. The company has been at its current location for the past eight or nine years, Guffey said.

"One of the reasons we're building a new facility is it's going to be easier to get to," Guffey said.

Their current location has good visibility from Interstate 26, but it's a bit tricky to find it once you exit.

The new location also will provide an upgrade on facilities.

"It will enable us from the service side to provide a more state of the art facility — the ability to have overhead cranes, for instance, and to turn over customer equipment more efficiently than the the facilities we currently have," Guffey said. "It also matches the H&E footprint (nationally) on design."

H&E does daily, weekly and monthly rentals, mostly for contractors and commercial accounts. It employs 18 people.

The new building should be finished in December, with a move-in date in January, Guffey said.

This is the opinion of John Boyle. To submit a question, contact him at 232-5847 or jboyle@citizen-times.com