MORGANTOWN – There are major changes coming to Hazel’s House of Hope – the hotel-turned social services hub at 20 Scott Ave.
Some of them are already there.
Physically, more than $1.6 million in congressionally directed tax dollars will be tapped to finance two major facility improvements slated to wrap up this summer.
Earlier this week, March-Westin got to work on a complete overhaul of the building’s main entrance, transforming an old hotel lobby into a proper welcoming center complete with an elevator lift to the second floor ballroom.
Other components included in this phase of work – which is being supported through a $1,194,000 earmark from Sen. Shelley Moore Capito’s office – will include a generator, new paint and windows for the building’s exterior and resurfaced parking and drive lanes surrounding the 100,000-plus square-foot facility.
Additionally, Morgantown Community Resources, the nonprofit that owns the former Ramada Inn and 10-acre campus, is initiating the bid process for an expansion of the building’s footprint to house more robust day room offerings. A $500,000 earmark secured by former Sen. Joe Manchin is supporting that work.
“After June, this place is going to look entirely different,” Hazel’s House of Hope Director of Operations Jessica Thompson said.
Beyond the bricks and mortar, Thompson’s title represents a seachange in how the facility is being managed day to day.
On Wednesday, United Way of Monongalia and Preston Counties issued a press release explaining it had entered into a contract with MCR to assume daily management of Hazel’s House of Hope (H3). The same announcement explained Thompson had been hired to run the facility.
In addition to 20 years in criminal justice, and as part of five years in the nonprofit housing sector, Thompson previously worked for Catholic Charities West Virginia. When CCWV took over operations of the H3 emergency shelter from Bartlett House in late 2024, Thompson was tapped to be the shelter’s director. She left that position in July,
While the agreement between United Way and MCR was officially announced on Jan. 7, it’s been in place since October. Thompson’s first day was Oct. 20.
According to the press release, MCR will remain actively involved in capital improvement projects and fundraising efforts, “but saw the need to have actual ‘boots on the ground’ to develop and manage towards long-term strategic goals of this one-of-a-kind facility …”
As for what MCR is paying the United Way for these services, that’s currently being hidden behind a confidentiality clause in the contract signed by the nonprofits.
The Dominion Post was not able to obtain that information in time for this report.
Thompson explained her new role is all encompassing and includes everything from acting as a liaison between MCR and the service provider tenants, to managing the on-site transitional housing units, to working with outside vendors, to attracting additional agencies and finalizing occupancy agreements for the remaining project-ready space within the building.
“I am looking at bringing more agencies in. I have a whole second floor that just got demoed down to the studs, so it’s ready for a buildout for anybody that would want to move their offices or their programs, or have a satellite office up here. We can do that,” Thompson said. “We are getting ready to also offer some of the rooms up here (4th floor) as studio apartments, transitional apartments, for those working their way into a permanent residence.”
She said the vision of Hazel’s House of Hope is to be a one-stop resource center.
On that front, there’s still work to do.
“It is and it isn’t. We’re not complete. There’s definitely some other components of social services that I would love to be able to get up here,” Thompson said. “Even if it’s not a permanent site for them. I want to incorporate things like legal aid, potentially having somebody from DMV, DHHR, Workforce West Virginia, the Fairmont Morgantown Housing Authority to be on site specific days, even if it’s one day per month. I want to give them access to the building to meet with clients. I think it would be very beneficial not only just for the clients, but staff and the organizations too, to develop that line of communication.”
Thompson said a full-time facilities maintenance employee has been brought on board.
Further, she said 24/7 security has been on site since late August. As was reported, MCR hired a private security firm in response to increased foot and vehicle traffic as well as concerns over possible drug activity on and around the H3 campus.
“I believe that’s been taken care of. The campus is pretty calm now. They do patrols around, random patrols around the property to make sure everything is on par and we don’t have things like people staying in the pavilion at night …They are in the building. We’ve had requests, especially at nighttime, ‘Can you walk me to my car?’ They will do that if someone doesn’t feel comfortable,” she said. “We haven’t had any issues since I’ve been here, and it’s nice to be able to look out and not see tents popping up and different things like that.”
Asked if a plan first floated in late 2024 to potentially build as many as 30 tiny warming shelters on H3 property was still being considered, Thompson said it is.
At the time, MCR was working with Mills Group, which donated a preliminary site plan envisioning the structures on property MCR would provide to the project’s coordinator – presumably the city – “at virtually no cost.”
“That is still in discussion. I actually had a meeting with the city this week and that was part of our discussion as far as a future, strategic five-year plan,” Thompson said.
