MORGANTOWN – A years’ long effort to bring new life to a 100-plus year-old building along Morgantown’s riverfront recently cleared an unexpected regulatory hurdle.
During the most recent session of the Morgantown Board of Zoning Appeals, the body approved an application for variance relief tied to an outdoor pedestrian walkway that will provide access to second floor apartments in the 6,902 square-foot brick building at 15 Court St.
The building sits directly off the Caperton Rail Trail and right next to the Joseph Bartolo Memorial Bridge, more commonly known as the Westover Bridge.
According to the Monongalia County Assessor’s Office, the building and 0.16-acre parcel was purchased for $400,000 in June 2021 by Greater Morgantown Rentals LLC.
Mark Downs, who represents the city’s 6th Ward on Morgantown City Council, is the LLC’s organizer.
“We bought this building about five years ago. It had been for sale for a long time. It had been out of operation for a long time because the roof had been leaking for about 30 years and it was collapsing from the inside out,” Downs said. “It was a slow process of structurally rebuilding the building from the inside out, literally. Lots of permits. Lots of working with the city – new roof, et cetera. So, we’re to a point now where we’re ready to start building out on the inside.”
The variance relief became a necessary technicality due to special conditions inherent to the property. The building sits right up against the property lines on three sides, leaving Court Street as the only viable point of ingress and egress. However, city zoning code states “dwelling units located above the ground floor shall not have direct access to the individual dwelling unit from a principal facade by way of an outdoor pedestrian walkway.”
Downs explained that the internal buildout is expected to take six to eight months, resulting in five second-floor apartments over a commercial space “that we’re targeting as bar/restaurant space on the rail trail adjacent to the amphitheater.”
Scott Frederick, who initially consulted on the viability of the restoration project, said his research indicates the building could date back as far as the 1914 incorporation of Mascioli Brothers Co., a wholesale produce business.
“The original address of that building was 65 Pleasant Street. So the front of the building was where the Westover Bridge is now. There’s a whole convoluted history of that building,” Frederick said.
Downs noted the revitalization project is not only addressing a need for increased housing stock within the city, it’s saving a historic building that was well on its way to demolition.
“This is one of the few historic buildings that we have left in our historic district,” Downs said. “If it were resurveyed today, it wouldn’t qualify as a historic district anymore because there aren’t enough historic buildings left. That’s directly from SHPO [State Historic Preservation Office]. This building is, and that’s just something that’s near and dear to my heart. It’s where our company, where we invest in the community trying to salvage our history. It’s critical.”
The Downtown Morgantown Historic District was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in May 1996.
Downs said a large, illuminated “Welcome to Morgantown” sign will greet travelers crossing the Westover Bridge from atop the building in the coming months.
