The tallest building in Asheville reborn as a design hotel — 128 keys across 17 storeys in the converted BB&T Building on Pack Square, with District 42 on the ground floor, The Bargello tapas bar, and the 17th-floor rooftop view that nothing else downtown can match.
"The tallest building in Asheville reborn as a design hotel — the 17th-floor view that nothing else downtown can match."
Kimpton Hotel Arras opened in 2020 at 7 Patton Avenue on Pack Square — Asheville's principal civic anchor — inside the comprehensively converted BB&T Building, the seventeen-storey tower that has been the tallest building in Asheville since the day it was topped out and remains the city's most prominent vertical landmark. The conversion gave downtown Asheville something it had never had: a sky-view hotel. Where the rest of the city's hospitality stock peaks at four or five floors of brick mill or foundry conversion, the Arras puts guests on the seventeenth floor with a horizon line that runs from the Blue Ridge to the South Slope brewing district and back across the rooftops of Pack Square.
The 128 keys are arranged across the tower's residential floors and run from standard King and Two-Queen rooms (the largest inventory category) through Premium Skyline Rooms with corner exposures, Junior Suites, and the named One-Bedroom Suites that anchor the highest guest floors. The interior brief is unambiguously design-led — charcoal, brass, walnut, leather, rolled-edge stone, original local-artist commissions in every room — and the rooms are calibrated as design objects rather than as country-cottage references to the surrounding mountains. Every category has free Wi-Fi, Asheville-skyline views (the height advantage means even the lower guest floors look across downtown), walk-in showers, and the contemporary mountain-modern finish that has aged well across the property's first six years.
Dining is split between two distinct rooms. District 42 is the ground-floor restaurant, fronting Patton Avenue with the original banking-hall envelope and the all-day kitchen that handles breakfast, lunch, and the principal evening service — Asheville's most considered Italian-leaning new-American room and the property's headline kitchen. The Bargello is the tapas bar — small plates, by-the-glass programme, the more informal counterpart to District 42, and the right room for pre-dinner or late-evening drinks. The complimentary nightly wine hour — the Kimpton brand signature, run for resident guests in the public spaces between five and six o'clock every evening — is the property's most identifiable hospitality gesture and the reason the social atmosphere is warmer than most design hotels at this rate. The seventeenth-floor rooftop is the property's other distinguishing asset: the strongest skyline view from any restaurant or bar in downtown Asheville, and the room that puts the Arras in a category of one.
The position is the second commercial pillar. 7 Patton Avenue sits on the doorstep of Pack Square — Asheville's primary public-event venue and the anchor for the Mountain Sports Festival, summer concert programming, and the Christmas tree lighting. The Asheville Art Museum, the Diana Wortham Theatre, the Grove Arcade, and the South Slope brewing district are all within a five-minute walk; the Foundry Hotel and The Block are seven minutes south. The hotel is pet-friendly, with no surcharge for dogs and a meaningful inventory of pet-welcoming rooms. There is no full spa and no pool — the amenity programme is the rooftop view, the wine hour, the two restaurants, and the Pack Square position. For design-conscious travellers who want the downtown answer rather than the Biltmore-resort answer, the Kimpton Hotel Arras is the strongest choice in Asheville.
For Asheville anniversaries at the downtown-design tier, the Kimpton's Premium Skyline Rooms with corner exposures and the named One-Bedroom Suites are the room category. Pack Square at the lobby door; District 42 for the milestone dinner; The Bargello for the late-evening tapas-and-wine-flight programme; the seventeenth-floor rooftop for the Asheville-skyline view that nothing else downtown can match. The Kimpton complimentary wine hour every evening at five is the brand-signature anniversary-trip touch.
The Arras is a particularly good Asheville solo-retreat property. Standard King rooms at the entry rates; District 42's bar seating and The Bargello's counter handle solo dining and drinking comfortably; the complimentary nightly wine hour gives solo travellers a low-pressure social moment without organised programming; the Asheville Art Museum, Diana Wortham Theatre, and South Slope brewing district are all walkable. The pet-friendly inventory is the relevant detail if the trip is solo-with-the-dog rather than fully solo.
For Asheville bachelor and bachelorette weekends — and Asheville is, on the South Slope brewing-and-distillery axis, one of the strongest bachelor / bachelorette cities in the South — the Arras is the right base. Two-Queen rooms for the group inventory; the seventeenth-floor rooftop as the headline group photo backdrop; The Bargello for the kick-off drinks; District 42 for the group dinner; the South Slope a five-minute walk for the brewery crawl. Pack Square's Friday-night street programming runs at the lobby door.
7 Patton Avenue
Pack Square, Downtown Asheville
Asheville, NC 28801, USA
Pack Square at lobby door; Asheville Art Museum 2 min; Diana Wortham Theatre 3 min; Grove Arcade 4 min; South Slope brewing district 5 min; The Block / Foundry Hotel 7 min; Asheville Regional Airport 18 min; Biltmore Estate 12 min by car
128 keys across 17 storeys (Asheville's tallest building)
Standard King & Two-Queen Rooms from USD 300/night
Premium Skyline Rooms from USD 420
Junior Suites from USD 520
One-Bedroom Suites from USD 650
Asheville-skyline views from every category
Check-in: 4:00 PM
Check-out: 11:00 AM
Opened 2020; Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants (IHG); converted BB&T Building (Asheville's tallest, 17 storeys)
Asheville's tallest building (17 storeys)
17th-floor rooftop view
District 42 restaurant (ground floor)
The Bargello tapas bar
Complimentary nightly wine hour (Kimpton signature)
Free Wi-Fi throughout
Pet-friendly inventory
IHG One Rewards programme
From USD 300/night, topping out around USD 650 for the One-Bedroom Suites. Premium Skyline Rooms and Junior Suites with corner exposures are the inventory to target for anniversaries and solo retreats; Two-Queen rooms for bachelor / bachelorette groups. Book two to three months ahead for fall foliage (October), Christmas / New Year, and the Mountain Sports Festival weekend. IHG One Rewards points booking is competitive on shoulder weeks.
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