MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — After a sluggish start, the East End Village project along Richwood Avenue near WVU’s downtown campus in Morgantown is moving forward.
Morgantown Area Partnership President and CEO Russ Rogerson said Tuesday the East End Village Tax Increment Financing (TIF) district has been approved by the state and the city. The TIF area is about 73 acres, and infrastructure will be supported with $16.3 million in revenue bonds in the future.
Rogerson said their focus has been on designing the appropriate type of mixed-use development to complement the surrounding Morgantown neighborhoods.
“The key is being able to strike that balance of bringing a newer product to the market while not drastically changing the look and feel of the city of Morgantown,” Rogerson said on WAJR’s “Talk of the Town.”
The land was purchased by the Monongalia County Development Authority in 2020 for $11.8 million with support from the city, Monongalia County, and WVU. Fifty-eight properties that were largely student housing have been torn down and Biafore Holdings and Omni Architects are developing potential concepts for the new neighborhood, Rogerson said.
“We’re building it from scratch so it has taken a little longer than anyone would like, quite frankly,” Rogerson said. “But we do believe we’ve made some significant steps, and our partners—the city has been a crucial partner in this as well as the county, WVU, and the Biafores.”
The development is expected to include a 100-room hotel, a grocery store, and up to 30,000 square feet of retail stores that will range from 1,500 to 3,000 square feet each. The development will include up to 300 market-rate apartments with the possibility of adding affordable housing.
“We’re trying to get some of that boutique retail that would do very well in that kind of walkable, connected environment for not only the East End Village development but also the surrounding neighborhoods,” Rogerson said.
Work is underway between the partners to develop a Community Development Agreement (CBA). A CBA is legally binding and sets conditions and goals between the local government and developers.
“Mostly concerned about having large-scale development and fast food drive-throughs,” Trumble said. “Things that are going to bring unnecessary traffic and activity to the neighborhood.”
The design details are still a work in progress, according to Rogerson. The details of the design will likely come into focus as the CBA is negotiated between the partners.
“On the affordable housing front, we believe there are some possibilities adjacent to the core properties,” Rogerson said.”I think we’re all on the page from a high-level perspective in getting things down into a site plan.”
The project was billed as a groundbreaking downtown redevelopment project that could set the standard to breathe life into the aging housing stock in the city and could draw more than $100 million in private investment into the city.