Mon Commission approves additional support for East End Village development
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MORGANTOWN - At the request of the Monongalia County Development Authority, the Monongalia County Commission on Wednesday approved an additional $150,000 in support of the East End Village development project.
Further, the commission agreed to defer a $50,000 payment from the MCDA that was due in July until July 1, 2027. The payment was to be the first per the terms of a May 2025 lease purchase agreement between the county and MCDA for the Ward Building located at 238 High Street.
The development authority has been carrying the financial strain of the project to redevelop 10 acres of property on the doorstep of downtown Morgantown and WVU's downtown campus since purchasing the land overlooking Richwood Avenue for $11.8 million in 2020.
"As you know, the East End Village, or Richwood Project, has been on a journey," MCDA Executive Director Russ Rogerson said. "It's an exciting project, but not without its challenges. When you take 10 acres of property adjacent to the university and, of course, the downtown, there are challenges that we believe on the development authority side that we're at the finish line of, prepping the property for development. If approved, this consideration will allow us to see that to full conclusion."
To date, some 58 old homes once rented by the bedroom to college students have been cleared from the land. Morgantown City Council finalized a rezoning of the property from R-1 (single family) and R-2 (single and two-family residential) to B-1 (neighborhood business) in January 2024. Earlier this year, the new 73-acre East End Village TIF district created by the city in support of the development became active.
Even so, the project has been six years in the works with no vertical development in sight.
In July, the county commission pulled together a closed-door work session involving the various stakeholders to sort out exactly where the project stood. One of the talking points heading into that meeting was the status of the relationship between the MCDA and David Biafora, who was named the project's master developer.
The agreement the parties were working under had long expired.
That hurdle remains.
"It's been a long road," Commissioner Sean Sikora said. "But this is a very critical month. This is a very critical week for this project."
Asked to elaborate, Sikora confirmed the comments were regarding Biafora's future with the project.
"Russ and I and Jamie [Miller] are trying to work towards an agreement. And we've kind of drawn a line in the sand that we have to have something by the end of this quarter," he said. "We've been having conversations, and we agree in principle on a lot of things we're talking about. We just need to get over the hump on a lot of items. I don't see a scenario where they're not involved. It's just what does the project team look like going forward. I'm confident we're going to reach a resolution by the end of this month - or we're going to have to see what our plan is."
According to the commission, this latest allocation brings the county's total financial commitment to the project to $990,000.
In August 2024, the city and county each put up $500,000 to be held as a mandatory cash reserve for a refinancing package being sought by the MCDA.
As collateral, the development authority put up the 90-acre site near the Morgantown Municipal Airport identified as the future home of the I-68 Commerce Park.
It was explained that this additional $150,000 will be added to the county's lien on that property.
"It's intended that these funds will eventually be returned. The way the East End Development Agreement is worked out, there's a waterfall as far as how everybody that's contributed to the project, including our development authority, would be made whole," Sikora said. "I don't have any concern that we're going to see these dollars back once this project takes off."
According to Rogerson, the development authority envisions about $120 million worth of investment in the East End Village development, which would make it one of, if not the, largest development project ever undertaken within the city of Morgantown.
City Manager Jamie Miller expressed her appreciation to the commission for continuing to partner with the city to help bring it to fruition.
"The commission has demonstrated a willingness to think beyond governmental jurisdictions and to invest in a project that has the potential to strengthen the broader Morgantown and Monongalia County community," Miller wrote in an email to Commission President Tom Bloom. "Its willingness to commit financial resources, participate in difficult conversations, help identify solutions, and remain engaged throughout development processes demonstrates an understanding that transformative economic development requires public partners who consider not only where a project is physically located, but also who ultimately benefits from its success."
According to the commission, the $150,000 in project support approved on Wednesday will be funded using a portion of the $1 million-plus in interest earned on the county's American Rescue Plan Act allocation over the last five years.