West End Revitalization | America's Best Communities | Residents | City of Huntington
City of Huntingon, WV
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Phone Number304.696.5540 Location
800 Fifth AvenueHuntington, WV 25701
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Fairfield Innovation Corridor

Fairfield Innovation
Corridor
Highlawn Revitalization

Highlawn Revitalization
West End Revitalization

West End
Revitalization
Gigabit City

Smart Cities Initiative

West End Revitalization

14th Street West

The 14th Street West project is one of the components of the Huntington Innovation Project or HIP Plan which won the $3 million grand prize in the national America’s Best Community competition. The winnings were awarded to the Foundation for the Tri-State Community as steward of the funds which are designated only for the HIP Plan projects.  The ABC funds will be used to leverage other dollars to carry out this and the other HIP projects. To date, over $1.8 Million additional dollars have been leveraged for this project.

The 14th Street West project is an effort to revitalize the West End of Huntington and the Old Central City Business District by working through a multi-stakeholder group of residents, businesses, government agencies and organizations. The vision encompasses the creation of an arts and culture district, community and economic development and a tourism economy.

Key initiatives include the following:

  • Creation of a master revitalization plan for the West End
  • Creation of a Main Street America program focused on the West Huntington neighborhood main street and 14th Street West
  • Utilizing the concepts of creative placemaking to revitalize 14th Street West by building on the existing Old Central City Antique District, expanding public art, providing support for entrepreneurs and establishing an arts and culture district
  • Expanding production and community access to local food by building on the existing assets of The Wild Ramp and the Central City Market
  • Adaptive reuse or redevelopment of existing vacant or underutilized industrial property
  • Developing a supportive system for entrepreneurs interested in starting a business in the West End
  • Increasing recreation and community spaces connected through the Paul Ambrose Trail for Health (PATH) and existing parks
  • Advancing both small and large infrastructure development

Most Recent Progress

  • On Trac Program completed and report delivered
  • Award of a National Endowment for the Arts Our Town grant which is almost completed working with experienced consultants
  • 14th Street West Streetscape improvements and creative placemaking activities
  • Developing funding for a historic assessment in preparation for applying for historic district status which will allow the use of historic tax credits
  • 4 new businesses started since 2017 ABC award
  • Acquisition of 610-618 14th Street West property which will house a history museum and artisan demonstrations along with antique dealers and offices for the arts and culture district
  • Numerous 14th Street West festivals and events including Winter ArtsFest
  • Bad buildings survey completed and online survey app developed
  • Awarded a Love Your Block grant
  • Hired two Vista workers
  • Awarded Rural Economic Development Innovation for technical assistance to establish a creative economic development plan
  • 2 murals completed
  • Gazebo upgrades phased and begun
  • A new vision and master plan for 14th Street West, The 14STW District Plan, was released to the public which seeks to tie Old Central City to Heritage Farm Museum and Village and West Edge Factory, Coalfield Development’s Westmoreland facility.
  • Hired an Executive Director of RenewAll, Inc. with the goal to institutionalize the revitalization efforts that volunteers have led for decades; to increase the viability of business on 14th Street West with public and private infrastructure improvements, and to attract investments in commercial buildings and housing in the West Huntington Neighborhood to improve the quality of life in the city of Huntington. 
  • Love Your Block closed its second year of mini-grants with a dozen projects which were mainly small home repairs in the neighborhood as well as community play space at Jefferson Avenue.
  • New street flags will be installed
  • Received grants for gazebo improvements

WestEdge Factory

The WestEdge Factory is a 96,000 square foot abandoned clothing factory located in Westmoreland neighborhood of Huntington. It was purchased in 2014 by Coalfield Development Corporation to house its many operations that hire and train unemployed people. Coalfield incubates and grows a family of social enterprises in economic fields it believes have the potential to diversify the regional economy and create good jobs. Chosen fields need to have triple-bottom- line value (people, planet, profit). Current enterprises include: deconstruction of buildings; construction; woodworking; upcycling materials reclaimed from deconstruction jobs; urban agriculture; solar energy training; WECAN Business Support Center; and wholesale and retail sales of reclaimed woods and architectural salvage.

Each enterprise has a president who is the entrepreneur responsible for its success and is staffed by work crews according to the 33-6- 3 model. As a result, these new economic fields, the entrepreneurs pioneering them, the crew members working within them and the region hosting them can develop toward full potential. Individuals in the training program are hired onto work crews that staff the Coalfield’s social enterprises. Each week, crewmembers complete 33 hours of paid work, 6 credit hours of higher education and 3 hours of personal development mentorship. At the end of a two-year contract, crew members have gained invaluable work experience and work skills, earned an associate degree and gained clarity on life goals, as well as personal assets to attain those goals.

To date, over 6 million dollars has been raised from a variety of federal sources such as the EDA, USDA, and the ARC, national foundations and corporations, loans and local philanthropy for these initiatives.

The WestEdge Factory encompasses the following initiatives, all of which are catalytic in nature:

  • A major remodeling and restoration of the abandoned factory including both exterior and interior renovation, complete reworking of electric, plumbing and HVAC for the facility, a new roof, creative of specifically designed spaces for each social enterprise, construction of live/work studios for artisans, community space, a blackbox theater, a parking lot and landscaping.
  • Establishment of dedicated, well-designed and conditioned spaces as homes for each of the social enterprises.
  • Develop a work team of Westmoreland residents and businesses to engage in long term planning for the area
  • Reduction of crime and increase in property values in the Westmoreland neighborhood
  • Creation of paying jobs for trainees and enterprise presidents.
  • Development of a trained workforce with associates degrees.

MOST RECENT PROGRESS

14th Street West

WestEdge Factory

Ten artists have used WestEdge as a virtual stage for live-music streaming and music-video production and found acoustics to be excellent in addition to the unique and aesthetically interesting space.

The Black Diamond property cleanup is underway with the removal of cement and soil and the addition of monitoring wells. Environmental testing is complete and coordination of architecture planning and work on office building is under way.
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