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Tag Archive: Economic Development

  1. State taking comments on bridge project slated to begin in spring 2024

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    A barge has been deployed and a contractor working with the West Virginia Division of Highways will start boring riverbed core samples this week as a preliminary step in the DOH’s plan to build a new bridge across the Monongahela River.

    While dates are approximate and subject to change, the DOH has said it would like to begin construction of the project — formally identified as the Morgantown Industrial Park Access Project — in the spring.

    DOH Assistant Director of Engineering Dirar Ahmad said the drilling is part of the NEPA, or National Environmental Policy Act process as well the state’s due diligence for any such project.

    “The core boring is part of the exploratory information that we need so we can make an engineering decision before we move forward,” he said. “Sometimes geology is tricky. You may have rock 60-foot deep on one side of the river, but you get to the other side and it’s deeper or it’s more shallow. We don’t take chances when it comes to the safety of the public.”

    Ahmad was one of the DOH representatives in the Westwood Middle School Gymnasium Tuesday evening for a public meeting on the project. The DOH is taking public feedback through Nov. 3.

    The state has said it intends to build the bridge by the end of 2025 to expedite interstate access for trucks headed to and from the industrial park, and specifically, Mountaintop Beverage.

    In August, the Morgantown Monongalia Metropolitan Planning Organization weighed in, selecting the state’s Alternative 3 as the bridge location.

    Alternative 3 improves the industrial park’s existing Rail Street, crosses the river on a multi-span bridge, and joins U.S. 119 (Don Knotts Boulevard) near Scott Avenue. A connection to Smithtown Road will also be provided and a portion of Master Graphics Road, connecting to River Road, will also be improved and paved.

    The state has maintained the bridge will be built in addition to a new I-79 Harmony Grove interchange, which has been in the works for years and is caught up in the federal regulatory process.

    As a resident of Master Graphics Road, Sharlene Fortney has been following that project closely from the beginning.

    She was one of multiple people at Tuesday’s meeting who said she simply cannot understand, or foresee, the state building both projects.

    “They keep saying that interchange is coming. The trucks roll by every day. I just want to know the deal. I think this bridge will help, but what’s the point of the bridge if you say you’re putting the interchange in and they’re going the same directions,” Fortney said. “They keep saying they’re doing both. That seems like an incredible amount of money to me, and it doesn’t really seem to make sense.”

    Those wishing to file written comments may do so before Nov. 3. Send comments to Travis Long, director of the Technical Support Division of the West Virginia Division of Highways, at 1334 Smith St., Charleston, WV 25301.

    Original Article by Author: Ben Conley, The Dominion Post
    Original Article Here
  2. Latest White Oaks Project, with Near $3 Million Price Tag, Ready to Wrap up for $10 Million-Plus Business

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    A multi-million-dollar project at the White Oaks development that began in January is still going strong eight months later. Not only going strong, but nearly finished.

    Since the start of the project in an area described as White Oaks Phase II-A, roughly 350,000 cubic yards of dirt has been moved at the site. Most of the work is being done to facilitate the future home of Jenkins Subaru and Jenkins Hyundai.

    “The contractor is just about ready to wrap things up and should be putting the finishing touches on the earth work,” said Austin Thrasher, the project manager representing High Tech Corridor Development who is responsible for development at White Oaks. “As we get into (this)week, I look for them to be spreading the topsoil.”

    Once finished there will be plenty of new, flat acreage available. The Jenkins family will assume 17.7 acres at White Oaks, 13.7 of which will be usable. The additional four acres will be hillside. All of the land is visible from the interstate.

    The Jenkins family of dealerships in Bridgeport will eventually move from their current location on Lodgeville Road and it is anticipated to begin construction in 2025. The current Jenkins property, which can be seen from the northbound side of I-79, is roughly eight acres. The current building is roughly 4,600 square feet. The new site will house buildings for both Subaru and Hyundai. The size of those buildings will be determined at the time of construction with input from the manufacturer. The project, according to the Jenkins family, will top $10 million.

    The entire work area will cover 40 acres, City Engineer Beth Fox said earlier this year. For those not familiar with the site work, it is in an area stretching from Route 131 to an area near The Thrasher Group building that is visible from the interstate.

    As part of the earth moving, another flat parcel was created, Thrasher said. He said it covers roughly seven acres and is separate from what the Jenkins family will obtain.

    Access will be able to be reached to the Jenkins acreage through White Oaks Boulevard. It can also be reached, said Thrasher, from a lower area before the main White Oaks entrance off of Saltwell Road known as Wildlife Lane. Those won’t be the only entrances to the new acreage.

    “We’ll be working on a turn lane to access the additional seven-acre parcel in the future; a left turn lad directly into that pad,” said Thrasher. “It is down from the assisted living facility you can see and during the construction there will always be one lane open so it should not disrupt traffic. If it does, it will be insignificant.”

    That leads to the question of whether the new pad was built to meet the needs of a client that was coming aboard. The answer, said Thrasher, is no.

    “That’s up for sale. We’ve had a few looks at it, but nothing significant or solid as far as something serious,” said Thrasher.

    Doss Enterprises handled the $2,851,282.70 earth-moving project, along with the placing of some infrastructure, as a lot of infrastructure was already in place. The Thrasher Group has handled the engineering.

    Original Article by Jeff Toquinto on connect-bridgeport.com
    Original Article Here
  3. State Adds $70 Million Bridge to its Morgantown Industrial Park Connectivity Plans

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    Due to the complexities of the federal regulatory process, the state of West Virginia is worried it can’t make good on its promise to deliver improved interstate access to Mountaintop Beverage via a new I-79 Harmony Grove interchange in a timely fashion.

    To remedy that, the West Virginia Division of Highways now says it’s going to build a $70 million bridge over the Monongahela River by the end of 2025 in addition to building the nearby Harmony Grove exit, currently estimated at $41 million.

    The key phrase there is “in addition to.”

    “It’s not a give and take. It’s a give and give situation,” Morgantown Monongalia Metropolitan Planning Organization Executive Director Bill Austin said. “They are committed, from everything they’ve told us, to Harmony Grove and to this bridge idea.”

    Local officials have been digesting this information for about a week. It was made public on Wednesday.

    But it’s been brewing in Charleston at least since May.

    That, according to Austin, is when he heard secondhand that the DOH had hired a consultant under the auspices of the Harmony Grove project to conduct a feasibility study.

    On July 18, an advertisement ran in the Charleston Gazette-Mail seeking a firm to produce right-of-way plans and construction contract plans for a bridge connecting U.S. 119 to the industrial park.

    On July 19, the DOH showed up with the preliminary design study in hand to inform local officials of its intentions and task the MPO Policy Board with selecting a location for the new bridge.

    When it meets in August, the MPO Policy Board will select from:

    • A bridge crossing the river south of the Morgantown Lock and north of the BFS gas station on Don Knotts Boulevard. This option would include a more basic bridge but require a complete reconstruction of River Road. A portion of the existing River Road would remain to provide access to homes and businesses.
    • A crossing that would meet U.S. 119 north of Scott Avenue and include an intersection with Smithtown Road. This option would require a more expensive bridge but connect directly to the southern end of the industrial park’s street network.

    Due to topographical challenges, a third option crossing the river at Green Bag Road was eliminated.

    According to data provided Wednesday, all options were estimated to fall between $64 million and $71 million.

    Ultimately, Wednesday’s announcement begs a question – will the state actually build two projects currently estimated north of $110 million to better connect the industrial park?

    Both Austin and Morgantown Area Partnership President and CEO Russ Rogerson say they believe it will.

    One, Rogerson said, the state has committed to doing so. Two, he continued, the Harmony Grove project will be primarily financed locally through the new Morgantown Industrial Park TIF district.

    “At some point you have to say ‘We trust you’ or ‘we don’t trust you.’ If the option is not allowing the state to meet the commitment they made to Mountaintop – if we say no – then we’re automatically saying Mountaintop is not going to expand and we’re not going to have anything for the industrial park. At that point we might as well fold up shop,” Austin said. “Everybody is taking it at face value. I understand the skepticism. I was skeptical.”

    In May, Mountaintop Beverage CEO Jeffrey Sokal told The Dominion Post the 330,000 square-foot bottling facility wouldn’t be in West Virginia without infrastructure commitments from the state — specifically the new Harmony Grove interchange.

    On Wednesday, he said he believes the state will honor that commitment, allowing both Mountaintop Beverage and the surrounding park to grow.

    “On a long-term basis, [Morgantown Industrial Park] access to both 68 via the bridge and 79 via Harmony Grove makes this industrial site and the 100 or so acres of undeveloped property extremely attractive to companies like Mountaintop,” Sokal said.  “The governor, the DOH and local representatives like Senator Mike Oliverio and Delegate Joe Statler should be commended for making this happen.”

    Monongalia County Commission President Tom Bloom said he too is hopeful everything the DOH has promised will come to fruition.

    “They have continued to state that this administration is in support of moving ahead on both projects,” he said. “We have requested to get that in writing, and we have gotten as much assurance as we can get without getting it in writing.”

     

    Original Article by Ben Conley on dominionpost.com

    Original Article Here

  4. Gov. Justice and Commercial Metals Company (CMC) announce new Micro Mill in Berkeley County

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    CHARLESTON, WV – Gov. Jim Justice and Commercial Metals Company (CMC) today announced that Berkeley County will be the home of the company’s fourth micro mill. The facility, projected to cost approximately $450 million, will produce rebar and is projected to begin operations in late 2025.

    “I am thrilled to welcome Commercial Metals Company to West Virginia,” Gov. Justice said. “We’re honored that CMC selected our great state as the home for this state-of-the-art facility, set to be one of the most environmentally friendly steelmaking operations in the world. The Mountain State has a proud history in the steel industry and this investment is yet another example of West Virginia welcoming this industry into our state.”

    CMC turns scrap into new, sustainable steel products by recycling more than 19 billion pounds of metal each year. CMC steel is featured in our nation’s highways, bridges and industrial structures. The new facility in the Eastern Panhandle is expected to have the capacity to produce 500,000 tons of straight-length rebar and a premium spooled rebar. Spooled rebar boasts less waste, increased productivity and improved safety.

    “We would like to thank Governor Jim Justice, the entire West Virginia economic development team, and Berkeley County staff for the support provided during CMC’s site selection process and for the welcome given to this important project,” Barbara R. Smith, Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer of CMC said. “We look forward to becoming a vital part of the Berkeley County community and growing our presence in the Mountain State.”

    CMC provides customers with the lowest emissions steel in the market as every CMC mill uses electric energy and 100% recycled scrap to produce products. Building on its foundation as a metals recycling company, CMC created the world’s first successfully operating micro mill – a plant with a smaller footprint that uses energy more efficiently than traditional mills.

    “CMC will be a tremendous asset to West Virginia and we are thrilled to welcome them to the Mountain State,” West Virginia Secretary of Economic Development Mitch Carmichael said. “There’s no doubt that West Virginia is the best place for this micro mill.”

     

    View CMC Factsheet | View CMC Sustainability Factsheet

     

    About Commercial Metals Company

    Commercial Metals Company and its subsidiaries manufacture, recycle and fabricate steel and metal products and provide related materials and services through a network of facilities that includes seven electric arc furnace (“EAF”) mini mills, two EAF micro mills, one rerolling mill, steel fabrication and processing plants, construction-related product warehouses, and metal recycling facilities in the United States and Poland. Through its Tensar division, CMC is a leading global provider of innovative ground and soil stabilization solutions selling into more than 80 national markets through two major product lines: Tensar® geogrids and Geopier® foundation systems.

    Written by: Jordan Damron, jordan.l.damron@wv.gov; CJ Harvey, cj.harvey@wv.gov

    Original Article

  5. Officials Celebrate Completion of Site Development for West Virginia AeroTech Park

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    Stakeholders of North Central West Virginia Airport recently celebrated the culmination of nearly 20 years of hoping and planning.

    Gov. Jim Justice — along with a host of local leaders and officials — participated in a ribbon-cutting ceremony marking the completion of site development for the West Virginia AeroTech Park.

    “Without any question, always, the airports are the heart; they’re the lifeblood of the engine that makes everything go,” Justice said. “You think of what you’ve got going on here. It is off the chart; it is un-flat-believable what’s going on.”

    The AeroTech Park will house the airport’s new terminal building, an expanded taxiway, an enlarged parking lot and will provide ample build-ready land for the continued growth and development of the region’s aerospace industry.

    The park’s future site is now flat and level, but just a year ago, the stretch of land adjacent to W.Va. 279 was buried under approximately 3 million square feet of earth that officials called “the mountain.”

    Ron Watson, former Harrison County commissioner and former president of the Benedum Airport Authority, which governs the airport, said officials had long hoped to “move the mountain” to clear space for a new terminal building.

    “The mountain has always been something that we wanted to get rid of, but we never had the means, and we really didn’t have a good plan,” he said.

    “Before we could do the terminal, we had to get rid of the mountain. That was a long time in the making, and I am delighted to see the progress.”

    Airport Director Rick Rock, looking out over the crowd assembled for the ribbon cutting ceremony, thanked the public for always supporting the airport.

    “One of the finest lessons I learned when I started this job was to get the community to take ownership of it,” he said. “Right here is an example of a community taking ownership of it. I appreciate it — without you none of this is possible.”

    The site development project, handled by Wolfe’s Excavating, was seeded by a state-backed investment announced by Justice in August 2019 — a $10 million grant from the West Virginia Infrastructure and Jobs Development Council and a $10 million loan from the state Economic Development Authority.

    On July 8, the Federal Aviation Administration announced the airport would receive a $15 million grant, the final element needed to greenlight the terminal’s construction.

    Bridgeport Mayor Andy Lang, who sits on the Airport’s Special Projects Committee, said numerous individuals and agencies deserve credit for helping make the project a reality.

    “It was a matter of just getting everybody to the table one-by-one — whether that was the (Federal Aviation Administration), the (West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection), the state, the governor’s office, the Development office, just on and on — to realize what this project could do for North Central West Virginia,” he said.

    Construction of the terminal building is expected to begin next year, Lang said.

    “We should be started on the terminal, digging footers, in the spring,” he said.

    The expansion project is estimated to lead to direct contributions of more than $587 million to the state’s economy each year, according to economists at West Virginia University.

    The total economic impact of construction expenditures for the airport’s terminal expansion project is estimated to be $88 million, of which more than $55 million will be spent directly, and another $33 will be generated in secondary industries, according to analysis from the WVU Bureau of Business and Economic Research.

    The terminal expansion project is estimated to employ about 356 construction workers directly, and another 199 in supplier industries, for a total employment impact of 555 jobs.

    Growth at the airport is estimated to add an additional $16.7 million in expenditures in the local economy over 10 years. Counting secondary impacts, it’s estimated this spending will result in more than $28.5 million in total economic impact over the same 10-year period.

    Expansion on the airport’s campus is expected to allow for the addition of seven to 11 small-to-medium-sized businesses that will either expand or locate in the area, for a total of more than 1,300 new jobs.

    The airport is one of the main reasons North Central West Virginia is one of the state’s two primary centers for economic activity, according to WVU’s John Deskins.

    “This airport and this aerospace sector in Harrison County is one of the key, foundational pieces that is enabling North Central to be a standout region,” he said. “I think that’s pretty important.”

     

    Original Article by Charles Young on August 22, 2022 on wvnews.com

    View Original Article Here

  6. US Natural Gas Prices Spike To 14-Year High. Here’s Why:

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    New York(CNN Business)US natural gas prices have skyrocketed to levels unseen since 2008, a spike that threatens to offset the benefits of falling prices at the gas pump.

    Natural gas futures surged 7% on Tuesday to close at $9.33 per million British thermal unit (BTU), the highest closing price since August 1, 2008.

    Although natural gas futures cooled off a touch on Wednesday, they remain up about 70% just since the end of June. And natural gas is up a staggering 525% since closing at $1.48 in June 2020 when Covid-19 had shut much of the US economy down.

    The summer spike is being driven in part by high demand as scorching temperatures through much of the country force Americans to crank up the air conditioning. That in turn has chipped away at relatively low inventory levels.

    “We’ve had this perma-heat wave cooking the United States,” said Robert Yawger, vice president of energy futures at Mizuho Securities.

    As temperatures drop this fall and winter, the natural gas spike signals sticker shock for families. Not only is natural gas a leading fuel source for the electric grid, it’s the most popular way to heat homes in America.

    “Depending on the weather, it could be a challenging winter,” said Rob Thummel, senior portfolio manager at Tortoise Capital Advisors. “But not as challenging as in Europe. They are at risk of running out of natural gas. We aren’t.”

     

    Europe’s natural gas prices are seven times higher

    Europe’s natural gas crisis is being driven by its reliance on energy from Russia, which has slashed natural gas flows to Europe in response to Western sanctions.

    The European Union has been forced to lay plans to ration natural gas, a drastic step that will hurt families and businesses. Natural gas prices have skyrocketed so high in Europe that it threatens to send the continent’s economy into recession.

    For context, Europe’s natural gas prices are trading at levels equivalent to about $70 per million BTUs, according to Andy Lipow, president of Lipow Oil Associates. That is roughly seven times higher than prices in the United States.

    But that is little consolation to Americans grappling with high prices at the grocery store, clothing stores and at restaurants.

    Even as natural gas prices surge, oil prices have tumbled, helping to drive gasoline prices sharply lower. The national average for regular gasoline has dropped 64 days in a row, according to AAA.

     

    Exports pick-up to Europe

    Analysts say Europe’s natural gas crisis is contributing to the higher natural gas prices in America, although it’s not the main driver.

    “Higher global prices are trickling down to the US. Natural gas has become a global commodity with the emergency of LNG,” said Thummel.

    The United States has stepped up its exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Europe in an effort to mitigate the impact of the loss of Russian gas.

    “Every spare molecule we can find, we are shipping to the eurozone,” said Yawger.

    US natural gas production is lagging behind

    But the bigger issue for US natural gas is the fact that inventory levels are below historical averages, leaving the market with less of a buffer and driving up prices.

    “We entered this year at beaten-down levels and we never caught up,” Yawger said.

    Supply has failed to keep up with strong demand for gas. Thummel pointed to how US oil and gas producers are under pressure from Wall Street to spend less on expensive drilling projects and more on dividends and buybacks to shareholders.

    “We need more US natural gas production. The production levels are too low,” Thummel said.

    The good news is that higher prices should, eventually, incentivize more production. And investors are not betting today’s high prices will continue. The futures market indicates natural gas prices should be almost 50% lower at this point next year.

    Then again, very few people thought a year ago natural gas prices would be at 2008 levels. And yet here we are.

    Original Article by Matt Egan, CNN Business on August 17, 2022. 

    Read Original Article Here

  7. Morgantown Seen As Economic Leader In North Central West Virginia Region

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    MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (WV News) — Despite COVID-19 and other challenges both locally and statewide, the Morgantown Area Partnership has been successful in moving projects along and executing their program work.

    “We’re excited about those results and as well as what 2022 can bring,” said Russ Rogerson, president and CEO of the partnership.

    Rogerson sees the success in Morgantown as proof that the partnership works. It was set up as a multi-purpose group doing the work of a traditional Chamber organization, as well as a developmental authority, neighborhood revitalization corporation and area economic partnership.

    “We saw where if someone wanted to come to the area, and if they had questions about their business and a type of property, they wouldn’t know where to go,” Sean Sikora, county commissioner, said. “We were successful in spite of ourselves. We were losing a lot of opportunities, so we sought to consolidate those organizations.”

    Many groups had similar ideas for success, but were not working together.

    “It was all centered around how do we create a greater cooperative working relationship across all the various entities, both political and private in the area, for the betterment of our communities,” he said. “We felt that we would be able to create better cooperation across those entities and therefore set a standard to help that cooperation throughout.” Rogerson noted a unique aspect of the partnership is that they have also added governmental and educational leaders.

    “It really broadened the representation on the community board,” Rogerson said. “That was the goal, to get more people involved and participating.”

    Rogerson said there are many things being done that have helped make the last year a bright one. In addition to new businesses coming to the area, the partnership restructured their organization, adding three new vice presidents, which Rogerson believes is a positive step in the right direction.

    Eric Carlson was named VP of economic development services.

    “Eric comes from former position of the equivalent of a city manager and in the college community of an Indiana Purdue, so he brings with a great deal of, you know, college town, university town, relationships and opportunities and challenges,” Rogerson said. “We’re very excited to have Eric on board.”

    Anna Carrier is the new VP of Chamber services.

    “Anna is local to Morgantown — born and raised, and a WVU grad,” Rogerson said. “She’s also a small business owner — The Cupcakerie — and previously worked at WVU Encova Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, so she brings a lot to the table for us.”

    Longtime staffer Amy Loomis received a promotion.

    “I was fortunate to have her when I arrived, and Amy has been elevated to vice president of revitalization services,” Rogerson said. “She’s going to be hailing a lot of the efforts of the campus neighborhood revitalization.”

    Rogerson has seen increased attendance at Business After Hours events. Those were the first in-person events the partnership brought back, because they’re smaller and more manageable from a distancing perspective.

    “We actually had our largest Business After Hours, reaching 120 people in December, down at the Marriott Waterfront,” Rogerson said. “This year, we’re hoping they open up even more.”

    Rogerson is proud of the work from the many committees of the Morgantown Area Partnership.

    “All of our committees do a great job: government affairs, transportation, and of course WINGS — Women’s Innovative Networking Group,” Rogerson said. “They continue to meet and continue to keep track of the many areas they encompass in the transportation, government affairs, and others.”

    The new Workforce Development Committee was created to help many Morgantown residents who were put out of work in 2021.

    “We did that to address the large layoff announcements from Viatris and the Blacksburg coal mine — we thought it was important that we stepped into that arena and tried to add some value to those existing services,” Rogerson said. “We held a job fair with some 60 companies, representing over 2,000 jobs.”

    A portion of the Morgantown Area Partnership website has been turned into a networking site for recruiters, which Rogerson calls a tool that all Mon County companies can use to post their job openings for free.

    “It’s important that local people know how to access local jobs,” Rogerson said. “We’re very pleased with that, and hope people visit our website to see that.”

    “We have projects flowing through, and last year we had two new companies locate that will result in some $200 million in private investment and more than 200 jobs,” Rogerson said. “These two companies are located in the Morgantown industrial park.”

    The Morgantown Area Partnership purchased 9 1/2 acres of college housing along the Ridgewood Avenue corridor, with the express intent of starting a major redevelopment effort along the corridor to provide more connectivity to downtown Morgantown and also the university from area residents.

    The I-68 Commerce Park remains a project with positive future implications.

    “We continue to work with the city of Morgantown on the airport runway extension that’s going to result in the creation of the I-68 Commerce Park in 2023,” Rogerson said.

    The soils and rock needed for the runway extension are being taken from the nearby spot that will become the commerce park.

    “That area will be available to us in 2023, so you’re going to hear a lot more about I-68 Commerce Park then,” Rogerson said.

    The West Ridge area of Monongalia County saw two notable retail additions: Menards and Bass Pro Shop.

    “Bass Pro Shop is is one of those anchor stores that I think says quite a bit about the robustness of our community financially,” Rogerson said. “We are happy to have them and happy to have additional retailers coming in throughout the community.”

    People are getting more comfortable going out, and Rogerson knows Morgantown will be ready.

    “I think when we can get this calmed down long enough, I think the stores will see people coming through here,” Rogerson said. “We’ve got a number of stores opening up in the West Ridge area, and I do think people will get out.”

    Shopping online experienced a dramatic surge as the COVID-19 pandemic kept people home. Rogerson is curious to see the new future for retail, as the pandemic wanes.

    “I think some of those conveniences, just like having meetings on Zoom, or other ways, I think they’re here to stay,” Rogerson said. “It will be very interesting to see how long-term, we adjust and adapt to that.”

    Rogerson knows that some elements of shopping online cannot be beat, but hopes that a happy middle ground can be found.

    “The good news is people were forced into adding it, and it’s there in place, and they can only get better with it,” Rogerson said. “But I’m also hoping that we still have a healthy number of storefronts opening back up and and that we can provide both options.”

     

    Shopping, Morgantown (2021)

     

    Original Article by Chris Slater, March 26, 2022 on wvnews.com

    Original Article Here

  8. Governor: Housing material manufacturer to locate in W.Va., create 150-300 jobs

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    West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice announced Friday that a housing material manufacturer is expected to locate in Bluefield, creating hundreds of jobs in the area.

    Omnis Building Technologies will build a $40 million, 150,000-square foot facility that is expected to create 150-300 jobs, according to a news release from the governor’s office.

    “I would like to be the first to thank Omnis and welcome them to our great state with open arms. I am beyond proud as governor to make yet another major economic development announcement that is going to change countless West Virginians’ lives for the better,” Justice said in the news release. “We continue to prove, without a shadow of a doubt, that the rocket ship ride I promised is real. This is the fourth major economic development project that I’ve been able to announce in less than a month, and these are huge, successful companies that are investing truckloads of money in our state, while creating careers for entire communities of hardworking West Virginians from north to south.

    Omnis is a manufacturer of energy-efficient, pre-engineered, home building systems made up of concrete insulated building units that are shipped then assembled on-site to make pre-designed homes, the news release said. Once delivered, these patented turn-key homes are easily constructed and move-in ready in just a few days.

    “The Bluefield West Virginia Economic Development Authority began working to attract Omnis approximately 14 months ago and we are honored that they chose Bluefield as their location,” the group’s executive director Jim Spencer said in the news release. “The jobs created by Omnis will be a tremendous boost to our area and it is a privilege to be part of the project.”

    When looking across the country for a location to build their facility, Omnis Building Technologies President Jonathan Hodson said Bluefield, West Virginia, is an ideal location because it enables the company to ship its homes to most of the population in the United States by rail or truck.

    The company is expected to break ground in the near future and plans to be in operation by the end of 2022. The site is located off Exit 1 of Interstate 77 on John Nash Boulevard in Bluefield.

     

    Original Article: by SHANNON STOWERS

  9. West Virginia Commerce Dept., Development Office continues economic development hot streak

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    CHARLESTON — Over the past year, officials with the West Virginia Commerce Department and the West Virginia Development Office have continued to land one big fish after the next.

    From a wind farm planned for a former coal mine site to a test center for an emerging mode of transportation, those responsible for the state’s economic development have brought in projects with the promise of thousands of new jobs and million of dollars in future taxes.

    “The announcements kind of speak for themselves,” said Commerce Secretary Ed Gaunch. “I would say that we’re really on a record pace. From my standpoint, I think you’ll see more of this going forward.”

    Mike Graney, deputy commerce secretary and former executive director of the West Virginia Development Office, also believes the best is yet to come.

    “We’re just getting started,” he said. “This diversification effort, this intentional effort are really moving the needle forward.”

    Other notable recent victories include the expansion of the workforce at the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries location in Bridgeport; supply company Klöckner Pentaplast has chosen its production facility in Beaver for its production expansion; and Gruppo Fanti, an Italian metal packaging manufacturing company, has announced plans to open a plant in Weirton.

    The staff of the Commerce Department and the Development Office are due much of the credit for the recent successes, Gaunch said.

    “We’ve been very intentional, we’ve been strategic, and we’ve been very results-oriented in what we’ve asked our people to do,” he said.

    The two agencies have forged meaningful working partnerships with other state agencies, Gaunch said.

    “K though 12 education, the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission, the Department of Transportation, the Department of Environmental Protection and even to some degree the Department of Heath and Human Resources,” he said. “We’ve learned to work together.”

    The Commerce Department and the Development Office also adopted a “regionalized” approach to economic development, one that highlights the existing strengths and resources available in the different parts of the state, Gaunch said.

    “When people learn that they can do much more together as a region than they can as an individual city or town or county, then much better things happen,” he said.

    The COVID-19 pandemic has obviously changed the way the business of economic development is conducted, but it has also presented unique opportunities, Graney said.

    “Traditionally we had attended trade shows and been on missions and visited companies at their headquarters, but we haven’t been able to do that in 10 months and probably won’t be able to do so for the foreseeable future,” he said.

    Focus has shifted online, and efforts have been thrown behind an aggressive digital marketing strategy, Graney said.

    “It’s curious that we were able to stand up this effort in the face of … totally changing our direction and, frankly, in many ways making us that much more attractive,” he said.

    There are several initiatives the two agencies would like to see lawmakers and the governor support in order to further promote economic development efforts in the state, Graney said.

    “Because every one of our existing businesses and every one of our prospective acquisition candidates is concerned about workforce, we would like to restore the funding to the Governor’s Guaranteed Workforce effort that was taken away several administrations ago during some lean years,” Graney said.

    The program provided new or expanding companies training funds and technical assistance to support effective employee training strategies.

    “When we’re making an offer to a new business, they are definitely very interested in that, in particular, if they are represented by a site consultant,” Graney said. “Frankly, every state that we compete against, every state in the union has something very similar to this.”

    Another item on the two agencies’ economic development wish list is the creation of a “closing fund,” which would give the state funds to provide final incentives to close a deal, Graney said.

    “Many of the states we compete against have a closing fund that allows for that last-minute offer that potentially lures you into locating in West Virginia,” he said. “It may be that another state has a bigger checkbook than we do, and our current methodology for doing that is complicated and very legal fee intensive. We’d like to see a little bit more flexibility there.”

    The state also needs to pursue strategies focused on developing build-ready sites, Graney said.

    “We still have some challenges with having shovel-ready, buildable sites in the state of West Virginia,” he said. “Often, unfortunately we’re just passed over because we don’t have a site that’s ready to build on.”

    Although he agreed that most states tend to have deeper pockets than West Virginia, no one can match its citizens’ work ethic, Gaunch said.

    “Nobody out-hustles us, and nobody out-works us,” he said. “We think that we have the advantage there.”

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  10. Bridgeport, WV Economic Development 2019 – VIDEO

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    Bridgeport has become a leader in economic development in West Virginia. Bridgeport is featured in this video by the West Virginia Municipal League as they tell the story of economic development around the state. Click on the image below to watch the full video.