MORGANTOWN — Russ Rogerson, president and CEO of the Morgantown Area Partnership, told members of the Monongalia County Commission on Wednesday that the Richwood redevelopment project has green lights ahead.
But, to continue the analogy, it needs a little gas money.
In consecutive days, Morgantown City Council and the Monongalia County Commission have each put up $500,000 for the project now dubbed East End Village Development Project.
That money, $1 million total, will be held in a mandatory cash reserve as a requirement of the refinancing package the Monongalia County Development Authority is seeking.
“The development authority has expended all its cash assets on this project over the last three and a half years. We do have assets of property, but we are not in a position to be able to provide that,” Rogerson told members of the commission.
Rogerson explained the reserve dollars would not be needed unless “we’re not making any sales beyond a year from the date of refinance.” As collateral, MCDA will put up the 90-acre site near the Morgantown Municipal Airport identified as the future home of the approximately 54-acre I-68 Commerce Park.
He said that property has been appraised at $1.7 million in its current state, which is a borrow site for Morgantown’s ongoing runway extension project.
The concept, Rogerson said, is that in the event of a worst-case scenario, the city and county would become joint owners of that land.
The MCDA is one of the entities that makes up Morgantown Area Partnership. It initiated the Richwood project by purchasing roughly 10 contiguous acres on the doorstep of downtown Morgantown from the Giuliani family for $11.8 million in 2020.
On Tuesday, Rogerson told Morgantown City Council that estimates indicate the revitalized area could see as much as $100 million in investment, completely transforming acres of old homes full of student apartments into a properly integrated mix of housing and retail.
Earlier this month, the city moved ahead with a $548,500 contract with Reclaim Co. to demolish the 57 or so structures currently standing in the way.
The MCDA and its partners will celebrate the start of that process Thursday with a public gathering at 451 E. Prospect Street, starting at 2 p.m.
“We’re moving forward. We’re going to have a positive development and we’re going to accomplish our ultimate goal and that is to revitalize an area to add value, both financially and service-wise, and for it to be a community asset,” Rogerson said. “It connects our area neighborhoods into the downtown and the WVU campus and creates a new gateway into the heart of our community.”
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