December 2016 | Business View Magazine

60 61 AT A GLANCE THE CHARLESTON URBAN RENEWAL AUTHORITY WHAT: A non-profit, qua- si-public, redevelopment organization WHERE: Charleston, West Virginia oNLINE: www.curawv.org oped.And we’ve been working to change that. So,we do have an inventory of properties, and we’re working, one by one, to get those in private hands and developed.” CURAwas created by the Cityof Charleston in 1952 and is led bya Board of Directors appointed by themayor.Although not an official part of the cityadministration,as it is does not operatewith public funds, CURAdoes function as a quasi-public agencyand themonies it does receive become publicmonies.“Fortyyears ago,the agencyassembled a very large tract of downtown–multiple parcels of property that was redeveloped,”Edwards recounts.“Aprivate developer built a large,re- gional shopping center–an enclosed,two-level mall with four anchors and a hotel.Instead of selling the developer that property,the Board, back then,decided to lease it.So,we get rent from themall and from the hotel on the land underlying the project.It’s kind of an ideal model in that a successful redevelopment project from the past is funding the redevelopment of other areas of the community in need.” Edwards explains some of the challenges facing CURA, as well as the City of Charleston, due to the current economic conditions in the region: “Charleston, and all of West Virginia, is in the process of trying to diversify its economy in light of the fact that energy, coal specifically, has been declining in terms of being a contribu- tor to the economy,” he begins.“Charleston, specifically, and West Virginia in general, has actually been losing population for, at least, the last fifty years. So, obviously, that means fewer jobs and less viability. The chemical industry used to be headquartered in this region, processing materials to make a number of finished chemicals, and those businesses moved away from here a couple of decades ago. There is still some of the chemical industry here –Dow, DuPont, Bayer –but those have down-sized dramatically from where they were 30, 40, 50 years ago. So, this latest empha- sis on the loss of coal is just the latest chapter in the decline of the energy/chemical industry in this area.” Edwards adds that, despite the hope of some that coal mining will re-emerge as a potent addition to the area’s economy, it’s unlikely that that will occur. And neither his agency, nor the city of Charleston, nor the private sector is banking on it. “No matter what any elected or private individual want to do, it’s going to be determined, not only by the cost of getting coal out of the ground, but the cost of competing sources of ener- gy, such as natural gas. And because of horizontal drilling and the ability to open up shale deposits of gas, the production of gas has gone up dramatically, which has lowered its cost to where it’s cheaper than coal,” he states. “So, the North Amer- ican and worldwide market for coal is going to determine CHARLESTON, WEST VIRGINIA Haddad Riverfront Park and Boardwalk | Charleston, WV Planning | Urban Design Landscape Architecture Economics | Real Estate gaiconsultants.com/ communitysolutions David Gilmore, PLA, MBA Director of Landscape Architecture d.gilmore@gaiconsultants.com 681.245.8867 Creating Great Community Places.