Piersol says site readiness is vital to development
Lindsey Piersol
PARKERSBURG — Those interested in having different properties considered for development have to have a lot of things already in place to even be considered, the executive director of Wood County Economic Development told area leaders recently. During the annual meeting of the Wood County Development Authority and the Parkersburg-Wood County Area Development Corporation last week, Executive Director Lindsey Piersol told those in attendance that those looking at potential sites for development are looking for any reason they can to eliminate someone from the running. If a site has no utilities, there is no project. If a site is missing a utility, there is no project. If electricity is only a mile away, there is no project. If there is no price listed on the property, the site is eliminated from consideration. If there is a great piece of property located in the perfect location with great road access, but there is an old building on it, the site is eliminated from consideration. “These are the things we are trying to preach to people who have property,” Peirsol said. “That is they are trying to find ways to eliminate us and not keep us in the running.” They have talked to site selectors who get around 200 applications for a potential project and a computer shortens that list to around 15 which means in many cases the area is eliminated before things even get under way, she said. “Gone are the days where we could say ‘we can get water to the property’ or ‘we can get electric to the property’ or ‘we can tear down that building,”’ Piersol said. “Five years ago, it was a different story. You could plead your case and say electricity can be put in a certain amount of time. “You can’t do that anymore.” More needs to be done to get sites to a position to be considered. “To do what we do, we have to invest in infrastructure and site readiness,” Piersol said. “To get a site ready you are looking at around $75,000.” The only need where they might have some “wiggle room” is with internet fiber installation. Their office has a site readiness checklist available on their website with the first thing listed is having utilities in place. “Economic development takes time. Economic development takes money. Economic development takes passionate people that are willing to take an ‘impossible’ idea and bring it to fruition,” Piersol said. “Economic development also means accepting you can’t win them all and you must dust yourself off and keep trying. Over and over.” Overall, the Parkersburg-Wood County Area Development Corporation has had 11 new members over the past year with a total of around 90 now, Piersol told those in attendance and through the WCED Annual Report. There have been over 22 new businesses in the area over the last year. There were 15 ribbon cuttings, including the Camden Clark Southgate Medical Complex; the West Virginia University at Parkersburg School of Cosmetology and Esthetics; and the Parkersburg Ohio River Trail (PORT) at Point Park. They went on over 64 business retention and expansion visits, including with iTech, ECO USA, Holl’s Chocolate, Mister Bee Potato Chips Co., Fasteners & Supply, Biztec, Curry Warehouses, Top Shop and Tri-State Service. They worked with over 38 leads and prospective businesses and completed over 60 project follow-ups. Piersol said they had marked 87 properties in their database as “inactive” meaning they were sold, leased or pulled off the market. Since its inception, the property database has had 628 buildings and property listed with 154 active and 474 marked as inactive. The area was designated as a “West Virginia Build District” allowing home builders to apply for tax credits and incentives which includes Wood County, part of Pleasants County and part of Jackson County, she said. They helped have architectural renderings done for future development at the Mid-Ohio Valley Regional Airport. Over the summer, Somar, a Japanese manufacturer, announced a $2.5 million investment in Davisville which will create over 25 new jobs. Somar manufactures an epoxy resin for the automotive industry. The new facility is located within the Polymer Alliance Zone Industrial Park in Davisville, utilizing the 80,000-square-foot former Pactiv building, which was a plastics recycling facility, located at 336 Polymer Way in Davisville. Wood County Economic Development was awarded a $1,250,000 grant in federal earmarks to help with the purchase and installation of new doors and windows at WVUP’s new Innovation and Technology Center on the site of the former Ohio Valley University. Piersol said there were 468 new windows and 32 new doors installed at the former Stotts Administration Building. Officials are expecting to have its first phase open and operating in the Fall of 2025. The organization received $550,000 in state funding with matching funds of $150,000 for $700,000 total for the installation of a stoplight and lane widening at the intersection of the new FedEx distribution center in south Parkersburg to allow for more development around that site, Piersol said. Chemours announced a $1 billion investment in Wood County to produce semiconductors which will include 200 permanent jobs and 1,000 temporary construction jobs, she said. Wood County Economic Development recently purchased the former Civil War hospital on Avery Street for $111,000 which will be renovated and turned into their new offices. The organization is still working on receiving federal money it was awarded in 2022-2023 which will go towards the project. WCED picked the building because of its historical significance and because it is located on a main downtown thoroughfare. “Economic development is a team effort,” Piersol said. “For over eight years, I’ve been blessed to work with so many of the passionate people…who have started businesses, support businesses or volunteer their time and talents to make Wood County a better place to work, live and reside in. “The future of Wood County is bright.”