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Point Park Marketplace closed; building vacant for now

The Point Park Marketplace closed at the end of August. The City of Parkersburg owns the building and agreed to release lessee Marvin Edwards from his lease. (Photo by Michael Erb)

PARKERSBURG — The Point Park Marketplace, home over the last few years to a variety of vendors, closed at the end of August.

Acquired in a 2013 land swap with a downtown property owner, the market building is owned by the City of Parkersburg and was leased in 2016 to business owners Marvin Edwards and James Kincaid. Last month, Edwards decided to move his Maka Mia Pizza franchise to a new downtown location and shift the merchandise from the Rustic House antique mall he owns to its Murdoch Avenue site.

“It was too big of a building,” he said Thursday. “As a business owner, I think it was the best thing.”

Edwards’ ventures occupied the majority of the marketplace space. The other remaining vendors were the Toscano in Appalachia wine shop, the Village Cakery and Century 21, he said.

In late August, Edwards approached the city about being relieved of the lease, said City Attorney Joe Santer. He and Mayor Tom Joyce discussed the situation and agreed with Edwards to release him from the lease.

“We appreciate everything Marvin did,” Santer said. “We felt there was no reason to bind him and hold him to it.”

The five-year lease was approved by a 4-3 vote of City Council in April 2016. The lessees paid a monthly rent, which gradually increased to $1,500, and reimbursed the city for utilities and telephone service.

The building’s management and cost under the city’s administration had been points of heated debate among council members for several months, which had a negative impact on attendance and interest in vendors setting up shop there. In the months after, the former vendors took over, that trend seemed to reverse.

Edwards said his experience with city employees had been nothing but positive over the last three-plus years.

“That’s why I wanted to stay downtown,” he said. “A lot of city employees are our customers.”

Edwards is working now to reopen Maka Mia at 327 Juliana St., where DiCarlo’s Pizza operated for more than a year.

City officials have not determined what’s next for the marketplace building, although the hope is the building remains in the city’s hands, Santer said.

The building is located along the floodwall, between the Blennerhassett Museum and the docking point on the Ohio River for the tour boat to Blennerhassett Island.

“It’s in a location that should be viable,” Santer said.

Councilman J.R. Carpenter said he would like to see the city bid the facility out to someone else.

“The reason we swapped for it is so we control what did go into that area,” he said, noting its proximity to Point Park.

The building’s utilities will once again be the city’s responsibility, but Santer said the intent is to minimize their usage and winterize the facility to reduce costs.

City editor Jess Mancini contributed to this story.

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