New 3,000-square-foot addition approved for coming Bank Hotel

At its public hearing on Wednesday, Nov. 26, the Randolph County Historic Landmark Preservation Commission voted unanimously to approve a "Certificate of Appropriateness" for a proposed one-story addition to the 1963 Randolph Savings and Loan building at 115 S. Fayetteville St., Asheboro.

Originally designed by prominent local architect Alvis George of J. Hyatt Hammond Associates in the early 1960s, the 37,705-square-foot modernist building has been undergoing extensive renovations since its purchase in early 2023 to become a 38-room boutique hotel and restaurant called the Bank Hotel (which is part of the upscale Ascend Collection of Choice Hotels). 

As presented by local businessman Al LaPrade of the DLAA, LLC ownership group, this new 3,000-square-foot structure on the north side of the iconic 4-story building will house a kitchen, meeting room, fitness center, employee lounge and restrooms while connecting to the main building through the former bank vault.

Justin Luck, Planning and Zoning administrator with the City of Asheboro, reported that the project plans were in compliance with all local municipal requirements prior to the vote. 

LaPrade explained afterward that the exterior surface of this addition will be a whitish brick (similar to the nearby Register of Deeds office) because if the contractor tried to match the bank's exterior, it would look like a part of the original building and thereby violate the historic requirements of the National Register of Historic Places, which allows the project to receive both federal and state income tax credits of 20% each. 

In other official business at this meeting (overseen by Ross Holt in Chair Mac Whatley's absence), Wallace Jarrell was sworn in as a new member of this historic commission by Randolph County Board of Commissioners Clerk Dana Crisco, and he will join Ryan Beeson, Warren Dixon, Holt, Bill Ivey, Hal Pugh, Dan Warren, Whatley and Chip Womick.