Development authority OKs $10M loan for BCBS HQ
By JODY MURPHYPARKERSBURG - The West Virginia Economic Development Authority has approved a $10 million loan for Mountain State Blue Cross Blue Shield's downtown headquarters.
Mark Sengewalt, Mountain State chief financial officer, said the project was an ideal fit with the state development authority's mission.
"We felt the project met the mission of the state development authority through job creation and the stability of the local market."
Sengewalt said the loan will cover about 40 percent of the project. The money won't come from until after the project is complete.
"We can't take advantage of the loan until after the construction is done," he said. "We are going to be putting all of our money in until after the project is done."
The new four-story building is expected to be ready by May 1. The project will cost about $27 million.
Sengewalt said the company is putting up the first $15 million to $17 million out of its reserves.
"By getting this loan we are able to replace money back into our portfolio and payoff the loan over an extended period of time at an affordable rate."
The loan is over a 15-year period.
Last year, as the project began to take shape, local officials put together a finance package to help Mountain State Blue Cross Blue Shield's headquarters remain downtown.
"The local development authority and the city have been very helpful," Mountain State Blue Cross Blue Shield CEO Greg Smith said. "It has been a public-private partnership. Keith Burdette, head of the county economic development authority, Mayor Bob Newell and United Bank have all been involved in the process to keep the building downtown."
The new building, at Seventh and Market St., is adjacent to the company's current headquarters. The building will consolidate Mountain State's 675 Parkersburg-based employees into one building. The existing headquarters is more than 100 years old and the company leases space in three additional downtown buildings.
The new building is much shorter than the current seven-story office building. However, it will have more than double the space of the current building's 57,000 square foot. Smith estimates the building will be about 127,000 square feet.
Mountain State is the largest health insurance carrier in West Virginia. The company provides and administers health coverage to nearly a half-million West Virginians. It has nearly 1,000 employees in Parkersburg, Charleston, Wheeling and Weirton.
