Hotel work to block street
Elkins says closure to run into September
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ELKINS -- Due to ongoing construction work on the historic Tygart Hotel, the City of Elkins announced Tuesday that portions of Davis Avenue near the historic building will be closed or limited to one lane until approximately early September.
"There is some work that has to be done to the front of the building that requires certain equipment to be out there," Elkins Mayor Jerry Marco told The Inter-Mountain Tuesday.
"Unfortunately, we know it's going to be an inconvenience to some of our citizens and we feel bad for some of the businesses that are in that area as well. We hope everyone will be patient with us during this process."
The closures will be between Second and Third Streets, and when part of Davis Avenue is not closed entirely, flaggers will direct traffic through a one-lane section in that area.
Davis Trust Company customers will still have access to the bank's drive thru, but will have to turn left (north) when exiting onto Davis Avenue. There will be no turns southbound from Third Street onto Davis Avenue.
"We can't have a lot of people in that area because of public safety reasons," Marco said. "Public safety is our top priority and we are going to try and keep the inconvenience as minimal as possible. In order to keep people safe and not have cars or pedestrians getting hit with something as they pass by, we are putting barricades up to protect everyone."
The architectural firm for the renovation project, the Mills Group, announced in May that the motel will reopen in September, just in time for the Mountain State Forest Festival.
"The reports I'm getting from everyone involved with the project, work on the hotel is going great," said Marco. "I'm very excited about what they are accomplishing at the location.
"I know what the motel was once upon a time, and I saw what it went to, which was very sad. When it is done it's going to bring life back into the community and it's going to compliment other businesses that are downtown."
The hotel, which was built in 1907, will reopen as a 56-room boutique hotel, including a full restaurant and bar on the first floor and a small banquet room that will lead out to a balcony on the second floor.
"We appreciate the folks that have invested in our community downtown," said Marco. "To have this vision to breathe life back into the Tygart Hotel is tremendous. Hopefully it will bring additional businesses downtown to compliment the great ones we already have."
The Woodlands Development Group purchased the Tygart Hotel for $700,000 in 2017. Four non-traditional lending sources -- Partner Community Capital, Davis Trust, Freedom Bank, and Pendleton Community Bank -- helped fund the project.