Massey plans new building

George Hohmann

Daily Mail business editor

Thursday August 09, 2007

Massey Energy is considering two sites on Corridor G for a regional office, said Jeff Gillenwater, the company's director of external affairs and administration.

"We are talking with a landowner as well as a builder and Boone County officials about the possibility of building a building near Wash Branch off Corridor G," Gillenwater said. "We're also looking at some property along Corridor G in Kanawha County."

"Nothing is finalized yet" and there's no deadline for making a decision, he said. "We're just looking at possible locations, at what fits best."

The Wash Branch location is north of the Waterways Park, near the Boone-Kanawha County border. Gillenwater said he was unsure whether Massey was ready to disclose the exact location being considered in Kanawha County. "The idea is to consolidate a couple of our offices," he said. "I do believe they're looking at a potential three-story building."

Massey now has an office between Kanawha City and Marmet. That office, which includes a helicopter pad, is visible from Interstates 64 and 77. The company also has a field office in Chapmanville.

The two existing offices have a total of 50 to 60 employees, Gillenwater said.

Shelley Huffman, executive director of the Corridor G Regional Development Authority, said her agency "would welcome the opportunity to work with Massey Energy in efforts to locate within the region in Boone County. This office building would provide a springboard to efforts to develop the Wash Branch property."

Matt Ballard, president and chief executive officer of the Charleston Area Alliance, said the alliance has not been working on the project and he does not know the exact location in Kanawha County that Massey is considering.

As for the Boone County property, "If it is the location I'm thinking of, it's pretty much right at the border of Kanawha, Lincoln and Boone counties," he said. "So it would be impactful for all three of those counties. In economic development we think in terms of regional development -- we think of the metropolitan statistical area. And that's in our metropolitan statistical area, so this would be a great job-creation project."

Ballard added, "We hope to establish even further an energy corridor. Think of Massey there and Chesapeake (at NorthGate Business Park). We already have Columbia Gas Transmission and Magnum Coal as well as other stakeholders in the energy industry. We're really creating an energy corridor right around the Charleston area."

Ballard said that because of the time he spent as director of the Hatfield-McCoy Trails system, he knows the Boone County site would require a significant infrastructure investment to develop.

"If that investment commitment is made, that area could develop into one of the best business or industrial parks in the state," he said. "It's beautiful and it's relatively flat."

Contact writer George Hohmann at business@dailymail.com or 348-4836.