BridgeValley officials continue push for move to downtown Charleston

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Officials with BridgeValley Community and Technical College are continuing their push for the proposed move to the Stone and Thomas Building in downtown Charleston.

A presentation was made to members of the West Virginia Community and Technical College Council recently about the ten-year plan for the college in both South Charleston and Montgomery which includes the move.

The ten-year campus development plan was presented as a concept but no action was taken because there’s an upcoming meeting with Governor Jim Justice’s Office. A special meeting will happen after that for potential approval of the plan.

“BridgeValley proposes to acquire the Stone & Thomas building, renovate that building at a cost of $26 million and move its headquarters from Building 2000 to the newly renovated 128,000 square foot Stone & Thomas building,” Richard Donovan, Senior Director of Facilities of the Higher Education Policy Commission (HEPC) said.

Building 2000 is the name of the South Charleston campus for BridgeValley at 2001 Union Carbide Drive. Donovan detailed the two buildings there that had been last renovated in 2012. The three buildings on the Montgomery buildings are around 40 to 50 years old, according to Donovan, and would require significant capital investment to the tune of $30 million to bring to contemporary standards.

Dr. Eunice Bellinger, President of Bridge Valley, was on the call and said Building 2000 is only being leased by the college. She said the Stone & Thomas project is based on the premise that neither BridgeValley, the CTC council or the state of West Virginia will incur debt.

“BridgeValley’s obligations would be a lease, with an option but not an obligation after a fixed number of years,” Bellinger said.

She continued by saying how the move is needed because the space in Building 2000 is not enough. BridgeValley is in line for a $1.57 million EDA grant to build out a hospital floor in the Stone & Thomas Building, she said.

“We would risk our allied health accreditation and we are told by our higher learning commission that as a community college, we should be located in the community,” Bellinger said.

“In this time where we understand now that telemedicine and telehealth are going to be the future of the state and a way that we can provide services to a state that is geographically challenged. It becomes something we simply cannot do if we stay in Building 2000.”

Sally Cline, the Chairman of the BoG of BridgeValley is pushing for the move and quickly, saying the clock is running out on the fiscal year to get new market tax allocation.

“We take very seriously our duty of care and responsibility. We would not have approved this plan internally if we didn’t believe in it,” Cline said.

The move to downtown by the college has been eyed up for nearly a year.