UNC Asheville has finally announced its intentions for the beloved, 45-acre woods nestled in the quiet Five Points neighborhood south of campus: private development for private profit, including retail, market-rate housing and a stadium for the for-profit Asheville City Soccer Club (ACSC).
In theory, some parts of this proposal make sense — the city and the university desperately need more housing, and ACSC needs a permanent home. But our public universities should be very careful about becoming commercial landlords, and this development fails to align with UNCA’s stated mission, values or goals.
That’s not an idle point, either. The law requires that public-private partnerships to develop millennial campuses like UNCA’s “enhance the institution’s research, teaching and service missions.” This proposal fails to meet those basic requirements…