“37 Church Street Executive Suites offers a flexible and cost-effective alternative to a typical full-service office environment for small or start-up companies,” said Michael J. Hoffman, executive vice president and broker-in-charge at Asheville-based Tessier Associates. “We’re one of a few buildings in the area that can offer this alternative.”

Built in 1927, the three-story, 16,000-square-foot classical revival Masonic Temple has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1988 and was most recently home to the Gateway Club. After that, it languished for several years until a local group paid around $900,000 for the building in April 2019, and conducted extensive renovations.

The stunning third floor ballroom is available for private events, and the restaurant space on the first floor is still seeking a suitable occupant, but the “executive suites” concept is a much-needed incubator space for fast-growing companies that don’t want to get locked into a long term lease and not be able to expand if they outgrow their space, according to Hoffman. 

“We offer individual suites for one person or larger suites for a several person office. We can be very flexible on the length of lease term too,” he said. “A tenant can lease space for one month,  six months, or longer.”

The first tenant moved in last December — a health care company that provides in-home care to the elderly and disabled that will use the office as a satellite space to compliment its main office in Asheville. 

“We needed a space there, but we don’t need a lot of space, so it works out for us,” said Craig Stuart, director of BAYADA Home Health Care.

Other tenants include Maria Averza’s Mind-Body Connection Counseling practice, and Party Fiesta Fun LLC, an event services company that features photo booth rentals, deejay services and lighting.