Park Place work moving ahead with bonds set to go on sale

SOUTH CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Work continues on the new shopping complex in South Charleston, and bonds related to the project will go on sale next Thursday.

Drainage rock and tarps are being placed at the site of Park Place Plaza, the former location of the FMC fly ash pond. Crews are creating a 24-inch layer of drainage stone over the entire site, in which the work is expected to be completed by the end of March.

Crews will then add drainage, with the goal of adding fill by next summer.

“We got to make the fly ash pond a pad-ready site for the retail complex that’s going to go in there,” Mayor Frank Mullens said. “This is the process.”

BB&T is scheduled to buy private-placement bonds for the site on Dec. 12. The $10 million purchase has a 2.5% interest rate tied to it, and deals with the mediation of the pond.

This is the third and final round of bonds associated with the project; according to South Charleston City Manager Rick Atkinson, United Bank and Priemere Bank each bought $7 million worth of bonds.

“We’ll take those out with the TIF bonds once we have the businesses there,” he added.

Atkinson estimated the shopping complex will generate up to $14 million annually in sales tax revenue.