From Wed HD..........
HUNTINGTON - The Huntington Municipal Development Authority is entering negotiations to sell a parking lot at 4th Avenue and 8th Street with the implication that redevelopment of most of the 800 block of 3rd Avenue will follow.
Capital Venture Corp. presented its plan during a two-hour executive session Monday, with partner Jim Weiler - also a member of the HMDA board - laying out a $6.65 million transformation of the block space, with $2.1 million in financing already secured.
Perhaps more important, according to documents submitted to HMDA and provided to The Herald-Dispatch by Huntington Mayor Steve Williams, Allied Logistics - which has owned and operated the properties on 3rd Avenue between 8th and 9th streets for decades - is willing to sell.
Most of those properties, including Whiskey Rocks, Rum Runners, the former J.C. Penney Building and the Bazaar Building, are vacant.
Capital Venture's plan would transform those properties, a total of 97,000 square feet, into a mix of office space, retail and high-end residences.
It would not impact existing restaurants Taste of Asia or the Marshall Hall of Fame Cafe. In fact, Taste of Asia operator Ken Chen wrote a letter to the HMDA board supporting the project.
The development would also include green spaces and a more open connection between 3rd and 4th avenues.
In its packet submitted to the HMDA board, Capital Venture included letters from one business already wanting to relocate its office downtown provided the parking lot is available, and other businesses in the same area that support the development plan.
Robert Fuller, a member of the accounting firm Hayflich CPAs, wrote to the board that his company has been looking at relocating downtown, and has been working with Capital Ventures on a downtown site. Fuller wrote he was impressed with the group's plan, and said a lack of parking is what drove the business out of city limits 20 years ago.
HUNTINGTON - The Huntington Municipal Development Authority is entering negotiations to sell a parking lot at 4th Avenue and 8th Street with the implication that redevelopment of most of the 800 block of 3rd Avenue will follow.
Capital Venture Corp. presented its plan during a two-hour executive session Monday, with partner Jim Weiler - also a member of the HMDA board - laying out a $6.65 million transformation of the block space, with $2.1 million in financing already secured.
Perhaps more important, according to documents submitted to HMDA and provided to The Herald-Dispatch by Huntington Mayor Steve Williams, Allied Logistics - which has owned and operated the properties on 3rd Avenue between 8th and 9th streets for decades - is willing to sell.
Most of those properties, including Whiskey Rocks, Rum Runners, the former J.C. Penney Building and the Bazaar Building, are vacant.
Capital Venture's plan would transform those properties, a total of 97,000 square feet, into a mix of office space, retail and high-end residences.
It would not impact existing restaurants Taste of Asia or the Marshall Hall of Fame Cafe. In fact, Taste of Asia operator Ken Chen wrote a letter to the HMDA board supporting the project.
The development would also include green spaces and a more open connection between 3rd and 4th avenues.
In its packet submitted to the HMDA board, Capital Venture included letters from one business already wanting to relocate its office downtown provided the parking lot is available, and other businesses in the same area that support the development plan.
Robert Fuller, a member of the accounting firm Hayflich CPAs, wrote to the board that his company has been looking at relocating downtown, and has been working with Capital Ventures on a downtown site. Fuller wrote he was impressed with the group's plan, and said a lack of parking is what drove the business out of city limits 20 years ago.
