The developer behind the Wine Bar at Vintner Valley, as well as a number of commercial and residential developers in the Morgantown area is hoping to bring upscale offices and retailers to Star City in a new development at the intersection of University Avenue and North Parkview Drive called The Glass Factory.
“The name was chosen because of the history of the place,” said Bernie Bossio, the project’s developer and leasing agent. “It’s kind of a salute to the glass factory that was there.”
The project, which Bossio said is more than $3 million, will be 16,000 square feet on two floors. Plans are still fluid, but the upper floor will be offices for professionals such as wealth managers and possibly attorneys. The lower level, meanwhile, will be for boutique retailers that could include a craft butcher shop and possibly a bakery that would make custom cakes.
“I am in talks with a bakery, like the ones you see in Pittsburgh,” said Bossio who declined to identify businesses he was speaking with.
The building itself is designed to look like an old warehouse, Bossio said, with new red brick that has been treated to look old. Off the balcony there will be 14-foot, arched windows. The ceilings will also be 16 feet tall.
Bossio, who said he loves new buildings, said he loves the history of the place and is looking at placing the old Star Glass Co. logo on the west side of the building facing Morgantown.
“The logo will look like it is peeling off,” Bossio said.
On the side of the building, next to North Parkview, Bossio said he is looking at using different colored bricks to look like old windows have been bricked over, giving it the old warehouse character.
In the front of the building, Bossio is planning on installing a car charging station for electric vehicles, something he said is the wave of the future.
“Where do you see one of those in Morgantown?” he said.
Bossio said The Glass Factory will be finished sometime this fall with the grand opening of its first business around Oct. 15.
