THE INTERMOUNTAIN, ELKINS, WV — Setting a start date for construction of the proposed Event and Conference Center in downtown Elkins came closer to reality during a special Randolph County Development Authority meeting this week. The RCDA approved three necessary documents during the meeting that will help get the ball rolling on the construction, including a Letter of Intent to Meet Conditions, a Loan Resolution, and a Request for Obligation of Funds.
“The three documents on the agenda were grant agreements, and a loan resolution for the USDA grant and loan that we are getting from them for the Event Center,” Randolph County Development Authority Director Robbie Morris told The Inter-Mountain Friday. “I had to formally bind the Development Authority into those agreements, so it required board approval.”
Morris said all of the grants have now been approved and the RCDA has jumped through all the hoops needed. “We have taken care of the final documents and during a meeting (Friday) with our engineering firm, we have a tentative date set to put the project out to bid, depending on one more document we need to get from the state,” Morris said. “I had a conversation with (state representatives) this morning and we are going to get signatures on it next week so that we can go to bid here shortly after Labor Day.”
Morris said the loan amount for which the RCDA has been approved and authorized is $1.72 million, while the grant approval is for $1.25 million. “The $1.72 million is a loan, so we will have to pay that back, and the $1.25 is a grant that is Congressionally Directed Spending funds from the U.S. Department of Agriculture,” Morris said. ‘Putting this together has been a lot of work from the RCDA, the Region VII Planning and Development Council and all of our funding agencies, the Ascend program, and a lot of different partners. But we are just about there and we are hoping we get the project out to bid in the first part of September. Bids will be due the first part of October, and then we hope to reward the project in the first part of November.”
Morris said despite November being a winter month, he believes some construction work can begin at that time. “There’s a lot of site work obviously, getting the turntable pit out and so forth,” Morris said. “There’s going to be a lot of work that hopefully they can do. Last year we had a little more snow than what we’ve had recently, but the winters seem to be more mild than I remember here lately, so hopefully that creates a good work site and they can get a good bit of stuff done in the first quarter of 2025.”
The proposed Event Center will be constructed in proximity to the Elkins Railyard Depot. The new building will serve as a conference and events center as well as a workforce development facility.