Submitted photo Woodlands Development and Lending representatives Dave Clark and Karen Jacobsen, left and center, tour PCAP President and CEO Marten Jenkins, fourth from right, and other members of his staff and board through the future restaurant space at the Tygart Hotel in Elkins.

ELKINS — Representatives of one of the key funding sources for the $16 million Tygart Hotel renovation project recently toured the historic facility.

Partner Community Capital, which sent a team to tour the Tygart, is one of four “non-traditional lending sources” which have helped fund the project, along with three local banks, Davis Trust, Freedom Bank and Pendleton Community Bank.

The Tygart Hotel renovation project is currently under construction and expected to be completed in the fall of 2023.

“Finding investors is often the hardest part of leveraging the New Markets Tax Credits,” Dave Clark, executive director of Woodlands’ Development Group, said. “The commitments from these four CDFIs allowed us to access over $3 million in New Markets Tax Credit,s which was a crucial piece in moving this project forward.”

Community Development Financial Institutions, or CDFIs, are “designed to take on slightly riskier investments in development projects like this,” a Woodlands press release said Tuesday.

“Four CDFIs came together to fund this higher-risk, leveraged loan,” the release states. “Partner Community Capital is based out of Charles Town and serves central Appalachia. Fahe, located in Berea, Kentucky, offers mortgage and community lending services throughout West Virginia and neighboring states.

“Appalachian Community Capital focuses on small business lending in underserved communities throughout the region from their base in Washington, D.C. Woodlands Community Lenders, a sister organization to Woodlands Development, based right here in Elkins, focuses on small business support and lending specifically in Randolph and surrounding counties.”

“CDFIs are incentivized to take on riskier investments than conventional banks specifically in underserved communities,” the release states. “CDFI lending is designed to help move downtown development forward and support small business startups who struggle to access enough credit. CDFI financing is often used in concert with community banks to help a startup business or individual qualify for a traditional loan.”

Woodlands Development Group paid $700,000 for the hotel building in 2017, and work to redevelop the historic hotel has been going on since then. The proposed redesign of the six-story building will attempt to capture the beauty and character of the old structure and the Elkins region today.

The Tygart Hotel was constructed in 1906 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is now considered an anchor for Elkins’ Downtown Historic District.

The building once housed the Shinn family’s Valley Grocery Company wholesale operation and later the Golden Rule Company retail store. Over the years many different restaurants were a part of the hotel. Before closing, it served as an apartment complex. The building includes a hydraulic elevator from the Warner Elevator Company.

For more information, please contact Woodlands Community Lenders at woodlandswv.org.