STAR CITY – The town of Star City intends to seek housing development proposals for a small strip of land along Boyers Avenue previously marketed for commercial development.
The property in question is .66 acres between University Avenue and Leeway Street, which is part of the town’s Boyers Avenue tax increment finance (TIF) district.
As Star City is a Class IV municipality, it must receive approval from the Monongalia County Commission for projects within the district.
In August, Star City officials approached the commission about the possibility of selling the property for commercial development.
A short time later, the commission signed a memorandum of understanding with Star City spelling out how the property could be marketed and sold.
Star City Mayor Sharon Doyle explained that while there was some early interest from commercial developers, no proposals were received as of the late October deadline.
After consulting with bond counsel for the district regarding the possibility of selling the property for the construction and occupancy of townhomes, the town plans to pivot in that direction.
Doyle explained the property would still need to be purchased for at least the $575,000 appraised value, with the proceeds going to the county commission and ultimately returned to the TIF fund for use within the district.
“We talked about this at the council meeting and it was the consensus of council that we move forward with a new request for development proposals that will allow the construction of townhomes,” she said. “We’ll let the county commission know that, and once we go through that process we’ll put together the request for proposals and advertise that.”
Doyle explained that in order to meet the requirements of the district, any future housing development would need to be rental units, not owner-occupied dwellings.
Should the town get a qualified offer, it would then present that to the commission for final approval.
The town initially acquired the property using TIF proceeds in 2012 to make room for the Boyers Avenue widening and improvement project. In 2020, the county commission approved an amendment to Star City’s TIF plan allowing for the sale of the unused land.
“It’s not a big area, so it’s not going to be 100 townhomes down there. There’s just no room for something like that. I think the intent is to maybe have some luxury townhomes with a nice lighted area. It’s a good place for development. It’s not going to tie up traffic on Boyers Avenue because you’re not going to be able to enter directly off of Boyers,” Doyle said. “We would like to see something done with it. We don’t have a lot of areas to develop in Star City. A nice, little development there, I think, would be a benefit to the town.”
