** A Billionaire's Ridge-Line Apartments Hit Another Delay While Affordable Senior Housing Gets the Green Light in Arden

By Jon Tharp, Broker  ·  May 17, 2026

A Greensboro billionaire's proposed 305-unit apartment complex on a South Asheville ridgeline overlooking the Blue Ridge Parkway just hit its second delay, and the neighbors who pumped the brakes this time own one of the area's historic summer estates.

At its May 13 meeting, the Buncombe County Board of Adjustments postponed a decision on The Carroll at Sweeten Creek, a nine-building apartment development proposed by The Carroll Companies along Sweeten Creek Road in South Asheville. The delay came after the board granted the Sumer family trust, which owns Round Top, a historic estate on an adjacent parcel, standing in the hearing. Their attorney raised concerns about stormwater runoff and asked for time to bring in engineers to study the project's potential impact.

The land being sold belongs to Biltmore Farms LLC, a development company run by descendants of George Vanderbilt. The proposed buildings would sit at elevations reaching roughly 2,425 feet, directly adjacent to the Blue Ridge Parkway. This was already the second continuance. The board had pushed the project from the April meeting while the standing question was resolved, and it now heads back to the board in July.

The Carroll Companies is owned by Roy Carroll, a Greensboro developer whose firm has built large-scale apartment projects across the Southeast. The Sweeten Creek proposal represents a significant density push in a part of South Asheville that borders one of the country's most-traveled scenic corridors. The Parkway draws roughly 15 million visitors a year, and proximity to it has long been a flashpoint in Asheville-area planning conversations.

The same meeting produced a quieter result on a different housing front. The board unanimously approved Crescent Place Apartments, a 60-unit affordable housing complex planned off Crescent Hill Drive in Arden. The project is a partnership between Mountain Housing Opportunities and Lutheran Services Carolinas. Stephanie Herrin-Huneycutt of Lutheran Services Carolinas described the goal as expanding senior services through affordable housing options.

Every unit at Crescent Place will be restricted to households earning up to 80 percent of the area median income. Under current HUD guidelines, that means a family of four making up to $81,900 a year or a single person earning up to $57,350. The complex will also include a dog park and playground, located behind Herc Rentals on Crescent Hill Drive.

Sixty units will not solve Buncombe County's affordability problem on its own. But the unanimous vote signals broad agreement that income-restricted housing is needed, and Mountain Housing Opportunities has a track record in the region that carries real credibility with the board.

The two outcomes from May 13 reflect the competing pressures shaping Buncombe County right now. On one side, a market-rate developer wants to build at scale in a location that historic preservationists and adjacent property owners say deserves more scrutiny. On the other, a smaller but fully income-restricted project sailed through with no opposition. Neither result alone moves the needle much on housing. But together they show a county still working out where density belongs and who it should serve.

The Carroll at Sweeten Creek returns to the board in July. Whatever happens then, the conversation about building on the ridges next to the Parkway is not going away.

If the way Buncombe County is growing has you thinking about what a move to the mountains could look like, Jon Tharp is glad to talk through what the market means for buyers right now.

Sources: - Blue Ridge Parkway adjacent development delayed, affordable apartments approved - AOL - Ridge line apartments proposed near historic Asheville estate, Blue Ridge Parkway - AOL