Kimpton Hotel Arras

Kimpton Hotel Arras opened on 1 October 2019 in downtown Asheville, inside a former bank headquarters built in 1965. It has 128 rooms, two restaurants and a terrace with views of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Fifty-four condominium residences share the building.

The place

The hotel is at 7 Patton Avenue, in downtown Asheville. The hotel's release calls the building the tallest in the city, and the guest rooms have floor-to-ceiling windows with views of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

From the lobby, more than 300 feet of outdoor terrace look over the city and the mountains.

The concept

Arras occupies the former BB&T Bank building, put up in 1965. The conversion was developed by McKibbon Places and the hotel is managed by McKibbon Hospitality. Glenn Wilcox and John McKibbon are the owners. The tower holds two things at once: 128 hotel rooms and 54 one- and two-bedroom condominiums of 737 to 2,300 square feet, of which ten are available for short and long rentals.

No interior designer was named at the opening. The hotel describes a regionally influenced, modern mountain look, and gives the art program more detail than the architecture. Nearly 20 artisans and purveyors from the Asheville area were commissioned to make pieces for the public spaces and the rooms. A release names three artists whose work hangs in every guest room: Catherine Murphy, John Wayne Jackson and Naomi Rogers.

Some habits come from the Kimpton playbook: coffee and tea in the morning, a social hour every evening, and pets of any breed and size welcome, with a local partner, Patton Avenue Pet Company, supplying the extras. A massage room, a yoga area and a fitness center cover wellness. PUBLIC bikes are free to borrow. The hotel also lends an "artisanal serenity cart" to rooms, loaded with books by Asheville authors, lavender sachets and evening cordials.

Dining & wellness

Two restaurants opened on 3 October 2019, two days after the hotel, and both are independent businesses run by Mandara Hospitality Group, the company of Peter and Martha Pollay, who are also behind Posana in Asheville.

Bargello serves Mediterranean food with international influences under executive chef Jordan Arace, built around shared tables. District 42 is the cocktail bar, with shareable plates.