Submitted photo Woodlands Lending & Development Executive Director Dave Clark spoke with the Rotary Club of Elkins, giving the group an update on the organization’s current activities. Joining Clark is Rotary Club of Elkins President Phillips Kolsun.

Woodlands Lending & Development Executive Director Dave Clark spoke with the Rotary Club of Elkins, giving the group an update on the organization’s current activities.

Woodlands is a non-profit community development organization based in Elkins.

“We stick pretty much to Randolph, Barbour and Tucker counties, a pretty small area. We do that intentionally. Our basic model is we’re going to do whatever we can to meet the community, economic and housing development goals of those communities,” said Clark.

The organization focuses on housing development work, including single-family and multi-family homes. They have done quite a bit of downtown redevelopment in recent years, working closely with local government. Work has also been directed towards community spaces such as trails, parks, green spaces and community centers.

Small business lending and technical assistance are also available through Woodlands anywhere in the general Monongahela Forest region. Lending services began in 2013 and since that time, $6.5 million has been lent in Randolph County.

“This last year alone, we touched 91 jobs and we loaned about $2 million in Randolph County. Most of this is in partnership with our local banks. We do a lot of work with Davis Trust, Citizens, Mountain Valley and Freedom Bank,” added Clark. “Most of our referrals come to us from our local community banks.”

In the past year, Woodlands was able to leverage $5 million in loans thanks to its local bank partners. Woodlands takes on the riskier parts of the loans and works diligently to mitigate the risk associated with those loans.

“We do a lot of handholding and offer a lot of technical assistance. We just did a Quickbooks training for a lot of borrowers. We had a ton of people show up to figure out how they could take better care of their books,” said Clark. “We just wrapped up the Paint It Black series, which was focused on artists. We get a lot of artists approaching us about borrowing small amounts of money for capital. We brought in folks who could speak to how to deal with seasonality in the arts business or how to maintain or put up a set of books that reflect what you’re doing,” said Clark.

Recently, a ribbon cutting was held at the Woods George building in downtown Philippi at the corner of South Main and Mason Streets. It is a mixed-use building with a commercial space on the 1st floor with four apartments on the upper floor and an accessible apartment on the first floor. The commercial floor contains retail space along with a restroom and room for an office/kitchenette in the back.

In the coming year, Woodlands will be turning its focus to Tucker County. Currently, there is $10 million in development projects underway in that county.

“We’re going to be doing a big building in Parsons, right next to the Veterans’ Memorial, a mixed-use building with commercial space and apartments. In Thomas, on the upper street, next to the Senior Center, we’re building 10 apartments with a commercial space on the first floor,” commented Clark. Woodlands works closely with various organizations and governments to bring these projects to fruition.

Woodlands owns the Tygart Hotel, a project that the group undertook and then completed two years ago. In the spirit of connectivity among the various projects undertaken by Woodlands, a nightly charge of $2.50 is collected from each room rental and is deposited into the Tygart Community Investment Fund. Those funds are used to construct single-family housing that is being built on some of the vacant lots that were purchased from the City of Elkins. Woodlands worked with the City to demolish the dilapidated buildings on those lots and is now using the funds generated by the Tygart to develop workforce housing that will be sold to working families in Randolph County.

Another project that is in pipeline for Woodlands is the potential redevelopment of the former Manos Theater on Davis Avenue.

“We have been assessing the viability of restoring the old Manos Theater, right across from the Tygart Hotel. We’re working closely with Appalachian Community Health, the current owner of that building. We’ve done an architectural assessment and environmental assessment to determine if we can convert it back to a theater,” said Clark.

Local film makers are interested in that space as well as the Augusta Heritage Center and the Olde Brick Playhouse. Approval has been received to use historical tax credits if that project is undertaken. The tax credits would cover a significant portion of the cost of the project but an additional $2 million would be necessary to undertake the restoration.

“It’s not the kind of project that’s going to generate revenue. It’s never going to make money so we could borrow money and pay it back. It’s a project that would have to be fully fund-raised,” added Clark.

A great deal of the original architecture of the Manos is still intact, including a portion of the upper balcony, the double staircases and the sloped floor. A total of 380 seats, including 100 balcony seats with the remainder on the main floor, would be installed. It is not intended for the restored Manos to compete with local commercial theaters, rather it would serve as a venue for B films or art films that have no current outlet in this area. “There aren’t many pictures of the interior. If anyone has pictures of the interior, we’d love to see those,” said Clark.

More information about Woodlands Lending & Development may be found at the group’s website, https://woodlandswv.org or by contacting Clark at 304-404-2912.

Visit www.Rotary.org to learn more about Rotary International, visit the club’s Facebook page – Rotary Club of Elkins – or contact 2025-2026 club president Phillips Kolsun at phillipskolsun@gmail.com for more information about the Rotary Club of Elkins.