Beloved West Asheville neighborhood bar to close by end of month

ASHEVILLE - Cascade Lounge bar in West Asheville is closing. The last full day of service will be April 29 as the bar will move out on April 30, Nick Rutherford, the owner of the bar, told the Citizen Times.

Rutherford announced the closing April 25 on Facebook. Since then the business has seen a wave of regulars, old and new, flow through the building's doors at 219 Amboy Road, Rutherford said.

Cascade Lounge opened in 2015 as a part of the Asheville Food Park and Market. The business has seen a rotating series of owners as the other side of the building flipped from Edna's Coffee Bar to Home Ground, where previous owner Jolene Fleischbein favorably comparing the bar to the TV show "Cheers."

"Our patrons aren't just customers; they're family," Rutherford told the Citizen Times. "Closing Cascade Lounge feels like saying goodbye to a piece of our collective history."

Bartender Julia Authier said the past Saturday was the second highest in sales for the business, where it felt like the business "created a family here."

The bar will be open for service until midnight April 29 and open until about 8 p.m. April 30 until they move out of the building, Rutherford said.

Rutherford expressed sadness for closing the location, which is due to "reasons beyond their control" regarding the rent negotiations on the building.

Cascade Lounge had been in lease negotiations to keep the location, but building owner Dean Pistor gave the business a notice to vacate "about a week ago," Pistor told the Citizen Times on April 29. In order to stay, the bar would've required a "holdover," which Pistor said starts at a standard of "double the rent," or around $8,250 for the bar, Rutherford said.

The bar, including the side containing Home Ground Asheville, had already been put under a new lease, Pistor said.

Pistor said the new tenants have plans to renovate the building and establish a "lighter bogeda-ish" theme. The tenants will keep a bar at the location while also providing food, Pistor said.

He told the Citizen Times that "it's a bummer" that the bar had to close, and expressed apologies to Rutherford. Pistor said he is looking forward to opening a new location and called the decision "really what's best for the building."

More: West Asheville breakfast spot to be sold; Property for rent, Cascade Lounge hoping to stay

More: Downtown Asheville restaurant closes 'due to economic market conditions'

Will Hofmann is the Growth and Development Reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA Today Network. Got a tip? Email him at WHofmann@citizentimes.com. Please help support this type of journalism with a subscription to the Citizen Times.

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Beloved West Asheville neighborhood bar to close