[...] decades after cities tore down buildings and replaced them with parking structures, communities across the country are demolishing the garages and putting up buildings again, confident that more people will be drawn to lively offices, hotels and housing. Typical parking structures built in the 1960s and 1970s were functional but not very charming, with blank gray walls and concrete ramps. Assistant City Manager Matt Anderson said the city's decision was prompted by the garages' deterioration and a desire to get rid of the uninviting concrete edifice. Officials want more of the street-level stores that have helped transform a once-sleepy downtown into a busy district with nearly 10,000 residents and dozens of restaurants and bars. Wes Townson, vice president of acquisitions at McKibbon Hotel Management, noted the site was a hotel before the parking garage replaced it. Sam Powers, Asheville's director of economic development, said the new building would add to the mix in the eclectic city, known for its beautiful setting in the Blue Ridge Mountains.