SOUTH CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Business growth continues across the Kanawha Valley, and the city of South Charleston is no stranger to that development, with projects on their way across the community.
Several new businesses are on their way to the planned Park Place shopping center, and city officials believe that’s spurring interest elsewhere in the city.
“It’s not just the Park Place, and I think you might be seeing a little bit of a domino effect of that, which I’ve said numerous times over the years, that that’s going to be one thing we all see of what’s going on at Park Place,” Mayor Frank Mullens said last week on 580 Live with Dave Allen.
Construction rolls on at Park Place with the upcoming Kroger Marketplace store ahead of schedule, and Mullens says it’s planned to open a month earlier than initially expected. Additional buildings for the shopping center are in the process of going up now.
“There’s three other buildings under construction there as we speak as well. Two of them will house about seven businesses apiece. We’ll be at 14 there,” Mullens said.
Mullens does not believe that it’s a coincidence that businesses want to set up shop in South Charleston. With new locations of Mission BBQ, Huey Magoo’s, and a Skechers outlet among the new options coming to the city, he said the key is providing well-rounded support.
“It’s never one thing. It’s always a big package deal with why people want to come here. It’s never about taxes only. It’s never about location only or taxes only. It’s kind of the whole package,” he said.
Business development is something Mullens made sure was on his agenda from the time he was elected mayor nearly 20 years ago. In his eyes, that consistency is a big part of what makes South Charleston desirable.
“You can’t just do it for a little while. You have to prove to everyone it’s here to stay. It’s not going anywhere. We’ve got staying power here and I think people realize that we have staying power,” he said.