A Rent-or-Buy Opportunity Play
743 Haywood Road
The Old Isis Theatre
A living house of music, film, food, spirituality, cannabis culture, public conversation and independent Asheville.
Running working document · Verified August 28, 2026
The Play in One Sentence
✦ The Opportunity
Put Hollow Bone inside a landmark neighborhood theater that already holds the exact mix the vision needs — a 494-person venue, restaurant, bars, patio, intimate lounge, serious production infrastructure and nearly ninety years of cultural memory — then use Billy Loves Willie as the public launch engine.
This is not a plan to open another bar with a stage.
The play is to reactivate 743 Haywood Road as West Asheville's living cultural house: one place where music, film, food, faith, freedom, hemp, art, comedy, listening, argument and celebration can all live — without being forced into a conventional church or corporate-event format.
Hollow Bone becomes the operating idea.
The building is the vessel; artists, guests, campaigns and community are what move through it.
Billy Loves Willie supplies the launch.
The first unmistakable public story and a reason to open the doors with urgency.
Why This Building
It already works as a venue
The expensive bones are present: stage, acoustics, audio, lighting, streaming infrastructure, kitchen, bars, taps, mezzanine, lounge and patio.
It is the right size
At 494-person listed occupancy, it is meaningful but still intimate — less than half the Orange Peel's 1,050 sellable capacity.
It has neighborhood legitimacy
The theater sits at the historic End of the Car Line, inside a walkable block built for everyday gathering.
It can run several formats at once
The main room, former projection-room lounge, restaurant/bar and patio make simultaneous or sequential programming possible.
It already looks like the story
Art Deco theater, brick storefronts, murals, breweries, kava, cannabis culture, listening rooms and independent businesses surround it.
The former operator closed by choice
The family closed at the end of 2022 after ten years — not because the venue failed, and not because Hurricane Helene destroyed this building.
It is available during a cultural reset
Asheville is rebuilding and reimagining its arts economy after Helene while West Asheville remains one of the city's strongest independent corridors.
The First-Night Download
It was the first night in a week without the dog. I parked at the cannabis shop and started walking Haywood Road.
It felt like Asheville's answer to Abbott Kinney, but more spread out, older and more neighborhood-based. Restored storefronts sit beside houses. Brick banks, murals, breweries, kava bars, restaurants, vegan ice cream and record culture run through the street. Potential New Boyfriend is literally a dessert, wine and listening bar built around records and a hi-fi system. Things close surprisingly early, but the street felt calmer and safer than expected.
Then I reached the empty theater. It was smaller than the Orange Peel, but it felt more usable. A green Volkswagen bus was parked directly in front of it.
✦ The Moment
My bus is a green Volkswagen bus. You can't make this up. This theater, though — I didn't go looking for this at all.
That recognition matters, but it is not the investment case by itself. The feeling found the building. The rest of this document proves whether the building can hold the vision.
The History You Can Sell
Historic Isis Cinema (left) and Isis Music Hall (right)
Haywood Road follows the corridor of the nineteenth-century Western Turnpike and became the commercial spine of West Asheville. Edwin Carrier and partners organized the West Asheville Improvement Company in the late 1880s. West Asheville incorporated in 1889, lost its charter in 1897, reincorporated in 1913 and joined Asheville in 1917 after voters approved consolidation by an eight-vote margin, 169–161.
Streetcar passenger service ran up Haywood from 1911 to 1934, ending at Haywood and Brevard — the historic End of the Car Line. That transit line produced the neighborhood pattern still visible now: houses behind a dense row of groceries, banks, churches, garages, post offices and theaters.
The old Isis opened at the turn of 1937–38: a $50,000 Art Deco neighborhood theater with 555 seats, air conditioning, modern sound and a carpeted auditorium. A surviving opening advertisement listed adult admission at 15 or 20 cents; children 10 cents. It closed as a movie theater in 1957.
Scott and Lillianna Woody's family bought the building in 1998 and spent years renovating it. It reopened in 2012 as Isis Music Hall and Kitchen 743 — a wedding was its first event, and the Claire Lynch Band played the first concert. The upstairs lounge occupied the original projection room. In 2015, the IBMA gave it the Momentum Award for Festival/Event/Venue of the Year.
The family closed the operation at the end of 2022 after ten years by choice — publicly hoping another operator would continue bringing a unique musical experience to West Asheville. That is the opening Hollow Bone can step into.
✦ The Sell
This is not a blank box searching for a story. It is a neighborhood gathering place with two proven lives — movie theater and music hall — waiting for its third.
The marquee's thank-you to Asheville — January 2023
Property Rundown
Compiled from the live Dewey listing, Dewey-sourced syndication, TenantBase, prior CoStar listings and Blue Ridge Music Trails. All deal terms require broker confirmation.
What the Capacity Really Means
The Isis is not one number. It is a set of rooms — each with its own use — that together make the building feel alive all week.
| Configuration | Capacity | Use | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Original cinema | 555 seated | Single-screen neighborhood movie house | Opening-era report |
| Main Stage seated | 150 | Dinner, cabaret, talks, films | Historic operating layout |
| Main Stage standing | 450 | Concerts, comedy, campaign nights | Historic operating layout |
| Upstairs Lounge | 50 seated | Listening room, podcasts, private dinners | Former projection room |
| Current listing | 494 occupancy | Whole-property legal reference | Do not add room counts |
| Orange Peel | 1,050 sellable | Downtown comparison | More than twice the Isis |
Room configurations are not additive — the 494 figure is the whole-property legal reference, not a sum of room counts.
The Hollow Bone Programming Engine
The advantage is not one marquee event. It is a calendar dense enough to make the building feel alive all week while every room earns its keep.
Main Stage
Touring and local concerts; songwriter rounds; comedy; film premieres; documentaries; live podcasts; public debates; campaign rallies; theatrical services; immersive dinners; awards and community nights.
Upstairs Listening Room
Intimate acoustic sets; album listening sessions; artist interviews; founder dinners; spiritual conversations; guided experiences; private salons; media capture.
Restaurant + Bars
Ticketed supper clubs; artist menus; hospitality partnerships; zero-proof and hemp-forward beverage education where lawful; after-show gathering; daytime cafe and work sessions.
Patio + Green Space
Markets; daytime music; wellness; maker pop-ups; mural and art activations; nonprofit partnerships; family programming; outdoor broadcasts.
Private + Brand Events
Weddings, retreats, company events, investor meetings, content shoots, album releases, festival headquarters and outside rentals that subsidize mission-driven programming.
Billy Loves Willie Becomes the Launch
✦ Launch Concept
Forty days and forty nights of freedom, cannabis, religion, spirituality, hemp, music and public conversation — staged as a cultural celebration, not dressed up like a conventional church service.
Billy Loves Willie gives Hollow Bone a first season with a built-in public question: what are we here for? The building answers by becoming the campaign in physical form.
Opening-night concert and manifesto: the theater's third life begins.
A 40-day / 40-night calendar mixing concerts, films, songwriter circles, comedy, food, sermons-without-church, hemp-policy conversations and community nights.
Daytime education and press; nighttime entertainment and hospitality.
A campaign headquarters where posters, postcards, billboards, live content and local partnerships all point to a real place.
Willie-adjacent outlaw-country, freedom and cannabis culture — without depending on Willie Nelson's participation or implying endorsement unless secured.
A clear home for Past N9NE artists, Digital Rose, Clyde Shelton, AI Prophets, film projects and outside talent — while keeping the calendar bigger than the owner's own catalog.
The campaign should be the ignition, not the permanent ceiling. After the forty days, Hollow Bone remains a year-round Asheville institution.
Rent It or Buy It?
Option A
Lease and prove the machine
- Lower upfront capital and faster path to opening.
- Use a first season to prove ticket demand, food & beverage, private rentals, sponsorship and neighborhood fit.
- Negotiate a purchase option, right of first refusal, long initial term and protection for improvements.
- Online rent indication: ~$16,535/mo plus expenses; broker page currently markets the property for sale — lease terms unconfirmed.
Option B
Buy the cultural asset
- Control the building, calendar, improvements, signage and long-term brand equity.
- Protect against rent escalation and loss of the venue after Hollow Bone creates the value.
- Own a rare, adaptive-reuse event asset on a historic commercial corridor.
- Asking price: $2,799,999 — approximately $353 / heated sq ft before allocating value to patio, equipment and operating infrastructure.
What Must Be Proven Before a Deal
Deal and ownership
- ·Sale versus lease availability; complete term sheet.
- ·Purchase option or right of first refusal.
- ·Seller financing, assumable debt or phased close possibilities.
- ·Title, easements, parking rights and survey exceptions.
- ·Exact inventory of furniture, fixtures and equipment included.
Building and approvals
- ·Current certificate of occupancy and room-by-room limits.
- ·Zoning, alcohol, food service, live music, outdoor events and noise restrictions.
- ·Fire/life safety, sprinkler, accessibility and egress compliance.
- ·Roof, HVAC, electrical, plumbing, kitchen, refrigeration and production-system condition.
- ·Flood exposure, drainage, Helene-related damage and insurance history.
- ·Historic-district review requirements for signage and exterior changes.
Economics and operations
- ·Prior revenue by tickets, food and beverage, private events and room.
- ·Utilities, taxes, insurance, maintenance and staffing burden.
- ·Acoustic limits and neighborhood operating-hour expectations.
- ·Parking plan and transportation strategy.
- ·Opening capital, working capital and realistic ramp schedule.
Immediate Action Plan
- 01
Call Scott Raines and confirm whether the owner will consider lease, sale, or lease-to-own.
- 02
Tour every room with the official floor plans, FF&E list, sale brochure and survey in hand.
- 03
Bring a venue operator, contractor, kitchen specialist and sound/lighting lead to a second inspection.
- 04
Build two one-page models: lean lease opening and acquisition with renovation/working-capital reserve.
- 05
Hold the Billy Loves Willie calendar privately until control terms and legal use are credible.
- 06
Return with a letter of intent that protects diligence, equipment, parking, licensing and purchase rights.
Working Conclusion
The instinct is right: this is the first building in the thread that does not need the vision explained onto it.
The physical form, neighborhood, history and existing infrastructure already speak the same language.
The hard truth is that a great building can still be a bad deal. Hollow Bone should move quickly enough to secure access, but slowly enough to understand why the prior business closed, what the building costs to operate, and whether lease control is strong enough to justify creating value for someone else.
Connect to the Campaign
743 Haywood is the physical home the Billy Loves Willie campaign points toward — and the larger Start With I Love You invitation made visible in brick, stage and street.
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