Asheville -- October 14, 2026: Costco fans across Western North Carolina took a major step closer to getting the warehouse store they have wanted for decades. On Tuesday night, Oct. 13, the Asheville City Council unanimously approved conditional zoning changes for a brand-new Costco location in Enka, clearing the most significant hurdle yet for the project and ending a site search that has stretched on for more than twenty years.
During the public hearing, company representatives shared a tentative target opening date, moving the long-rumored development from wishlist status to an active timeline. The approved plans call for a massive 168,258-square-foot warehouse, an on-site gas station equipped with 32 fuel pumps, and more than 900 parking spaces situated near the intersection of Enka Heritage Parkway and Sand Hill Road. The store is projected to create 225 to 250 initial jobs, with total employment potentially climbing to 400 or more as business ramps up.
Finding a footprint large enough to support a retail giant like Costco has challenged developers for years. The Enka site, once home to the historic American Enka industrial complex, offers the extensive acreage and highway proximity needed for tractor-trailer logistics and high-volume shopper traffic. Because the land carries a brownfield classification with environmental restrictions that limit certain other types of construction, council members recognized the proposal as an ideal way to breathe fresh economic vitality into a dormant parcel. In addition to commercial growth, the developer's plan is expected to help rehabilitate the historic Enka clock tower, preserving a cherished community landmark.
Despite the broad enthusiasm, Tuesday’s public hearing brought substantial local concerns to the podium, chief among them being corridor traffic congestion. An official traffic study estimates that the Costco development could generate upwards of 12,000 vehicle trips per day. While not all of those trips represent brand-new vehicles on regional roads, Candler residents who travel the Smokey Park Highway corridor daily voiced sharp skepticism. Neighbors pointed out that existing intersections—particularly at Smokey Park Highway and Sand Hill Road, as well as nearby Sardis Road—already experience severe gridlock during afternoon rush hours and school pickup periods.
Council members acknowledged those frustrations but emphasized the state requirements tied to the approval. Under North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) regulations, the developer is required to pay for and construct all state-mandated road improvements before the warehouse can open its doors. Proposed fixes include additional turn lanes along Smokey Park Highway, Sand Hill Road, and Jacob Holm Way, alongside ongoing evaluations of improvements around the Interstate 40 Exit 44 interchange. NCDOT is currently finalizing its review of the site's traffic impact analysis, with formal comments expected by mid-November.
Environmental standards also sparked debate during the meeting. Leaders from the Asheville Urban Forestry Commission urged council members to deny an exception that allows Costco to reduce its site tree preservation requirement from 15% to 13%, arguing that the city’s environmental ordinances should be strictly upheld. City representatives explained that the property features unique complications, including acreage lying outside city limits and deed-restricted parcels with preserved trees that legally cannot be counted toward the city's standard canopy quota. City staff noted that conditional zoning cases are handled individually, ensuring the decision does not set a legal precedent for future developments, and confirmed that Costco will plant hundreds of new trees as part of its extensive landscaping plan.
In the end, city leaders agreed that the benefits of the project far outweighed the hurdles, pointing to job creation, brownfield remediation, and needed retail savings for local families struggling with the regional cost of living. With conditional zoning secured, the project now heads into detailed engineering, environmental review, and NCDOT road design before construction crews break ground.
Jurisdictionally, the site was annexed into the City of Asheville