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

Question: The new parking garage that would hold 1,000 cars being built between Asheland and Coxe Avenues looked to be 75% finished, but then for a while it was being deconstructed piece by piece of its precast concrete shell. Why are they having to take it apart?

My answer: Sometimes these giant Legos just do not snap into place like you want them to. Let me tell, too, you do not want to step on one of these in your bare feet.

Real answer: First, let's review.

This is the $90 million mixed-use apartment project slated to bring 488 units to the South Slope. Asheville City Council in December 2019 approved the development, which includes 86,000 square feet of office and commercial space, plus the 973-space parking deck.

Answer Man: Hot Spot convenience store closed forever? Or will it become a wine bar?

Tribute Investment and Development of Wilmington said then the project would take three years to build. Plans call for 49 units to be affordable units price below market rates.

I stopped by the site April 19, and work was again ongoing on the back part of the project, closest to Coxe Avenue. A crew was drilling deep holes to the east of the six-story parking deck.

"It's a revised foundation," Bob McCarthy, a construction consultant with McKinley Construction, told me. "It's a different type of foundation (from what was there)."

The holes the crews were drilling are called "micro piles," and they'll go down 80-100 feet till they hit bedrock, McCarthy said. 

Answer Man: Cliffs at High Carolina permits still valid? Any activity there?

The previous problem came because workers had hit "unsuitable soil" deep down, and it wouldn't hold the weight of the deck. That deck work started back in the winter of 2021, McCarthy said, and the problem did indeed cause a considerable delay.

McCarthy said the parking deck will hold 550 cars and could be finished by Christmas, if all goes well. Four large apartment buildings will come next, but they're contingent on getting the deck built, he said.

Our previous stories have said five buildings are coming. I left multiple messages with Tribute to clarify this and other details but didn't hear back by deadline.

The first apartments likely will come online in 2023, McCarthy said. He also noted the developer has had to install a new 12-inch sewer line that runs to Coxe Avenue, and the company built a small road to access the site from Coxe.

Question: How can there be no pedestrian traffic signal — walk/don’t walk — at one of the busiest crosswalks in town, Asheland and Hilliard? All the other busy corners seem to have them. What gives?

My answer: Your sense of safety, I'm guessing.      

Real answer: This is tied into the new apartments and parking deck mentioned above.

More:Asheville open space amendments, South Slope Vision Plan get OK from council committee

"Pedestrian signals are planned for the intersection of Asheland Avenue and Hilliard Avenue," city of Asheville spokeswoman Kim Miller said via email. "The changes will be done as part of an ongoing development’s traffic impact improvements."

She noted the Tribute development at 172 Asheland Ave. "is under construction and is required to install the pedestrian signals before receiving a temporary certificate of occupancy."

When the project was approved, requirements included construction of a 12-foot wide sidewalk on Coxe Avenue and a 10-foot wide sidewalk on Asheland Avenue. Also, the project includes the planting of 145 trees in an effort to create "an urban forest" effect on the site, according to a previous news story.

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