JULIAN, W.Va. — West Virginia Commerce Secretary Keith Burdette says the state can build a “world competitive site” for business development at the new Hobet project in Boone County.
Burdette joined Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin and others Thursday at the former mountaintop removal mining site just off U.S. Route 119 to announce the first phase of the project that will use reclaimed land to entice businesses to come to West Virginia and existing businesses to expand there.
“This creates a resource we don’t have,” Burdette said. “Everybody said, ‘Is this a build it and they will come (project)?’ The answer is if we don’t build it they can’t come.”
The first phase of the project will include the construction of a 2.6 mile four-lane highway from the U.S. Route 119-Route 3 intersection up the mountain. Bids for the design-build project will be opened in October with construction to begin next March.
“When they let a contract for that road we’ll be able to talk to prospects pretty seriously,” Burdette predicted.
There’s very little, if any, flat land for development in the southern coalfields, the Hobet property includes more than 12,000 acres, Burdette said.
“The state has never speculatively invested in a site project–we probably should have–but we never have,” Burdette said. “It is the right thing to do. It’s something we have to do.”
Marshall University is helping map the property while WVU will help the state market it and develop a master plan. The West Virginia Economic Development Authority will hold the land titles from local landowners, some of which who have already agreed to turn over the property to the state.
With the location less than 30 miles from Charleston where three interstates converge, Burdette believes they can recruit businesses to Hobet.
“Over time we will convince people that this is the right place to be,” he said.
Gov. Tomblin first announced the Hobet project during State of the State Address in January. He said Thursday Hobet has the potential to have more flat land than Huntington.
“It gives us an opportunity in the southwestern part of the state that we’ve never had to be able to diversify,” Tomblin said.
The land, which is already 90 percent reclaimed, only has a few months left of mining. It was owned by Patriot Mining until the company filed for bankruptcy in the last year. It’s now owned by the Virginia Conservation Legacy Fund which is supporting the project.
The state is working with its congressional delegation and the federal government to secure grant monies for the project. There’s a possibility that one day an entire metropolitan area, including residential housing, will be located there, Burdette said.
“This property is so immense you’ll have development on this for half a century, if not longer. It just has that much potential,” Burdette said.