Local News

Historic Renovation

Rotary Club hears hotel work update

ELKINS -- Dave Clark, executive director for Woodlands Development and Lending, addressed the Rotary Club of Elkins, giving the group an update on the renovation of the historic Tygart Hotel.

Woodlands Development and Lending began operations in 1995 under the umbrella of the Randolph County Housing Authority. The organization has grown from developing rental units and single-family homes during its first 10 years to now coordinating several multi-million-dollar projects at any given time. In 2013, it added small business lending and assistance to its services.

The Tygart Hotel project, started in 2015, is the biggest project taken on by Woodlands. At that time, the hotel was "housing of last resort," Clark said, noting that approximately 50% of the city's police calls came from that location.

Community meetings were held to help determine what could be done about the hotel. Originally, Woodlands planned on keeping it as housing, but community members asked that the possibility of returning the Tygart to a hotel be examined.

A consultant was hired to do a market study; the study indicated that the numbers were good for the return to a hotel. An additional market study was also done, which indicated that the Tygart Hotel will be successful if (1) it is combined with other commercial real estate development downtown, (2) if there's an effort to improve the streetscape and (3) if the river front is taken advantage of.

Initial commitments for financing were secured and hotel developers were contacted.

"I spent weeks calling developers up and down the east coast seeing if we could entice anybody to this project. Pretty much, without fail, every one of them said the same thing. 'Looks like a great project but it's a little too small and Elkins is a little too rural,'" Clark said. "We had an ad hoc advisory committee and with their support and talking it through, we decided to just go ahead and do this ourselves."

It took approximately two years to put together all the financing for the project. There are numerous sources of financing, including multiple lenders and investors. The bulk of the funding is coming from tax credit investments. Davis Trust Company, Pendleton Community Bank and Freedom Bank are key investors in the project. The City of Elkins also committed half of the public parking lot behind the hotel to the project.

"The City got a lot of flack for that but it's critical for the success of the hotel," Clark said.

The renovation started in June 2022 with Michael Mills of the Mills Group serving as the architect for the project. Taylor Hospitality is serving as the management company for the project. Taylor also manages the Raven Golf Course at Snowshoe.

Plans were for the project to be substantially completed by Dec. 31, but it will take approximately another month to be ready to open.

"There's been a flurry of activity," added Clark.

Woodlands Development is slated to step away from the project in approximately five years.

"Because of the financing we have to stay in the ownership for a few years but then our goal is to get out of it. During that time, it's really important to figure out how to make this a true community asset. How do we make sure it doesn't just become a hotel owned by an out-of-state company that does what it can to keep the guests there," Clark said.

"We -- us and the management company -- agreed to pay a higher-than-average wage for all jobs. All jobs will pay a decent living wage. There was a job fair and they interviewed 127 people in those two days."

More than 600 applications have been received for the 57 available positions. Many applicants are local community members who are working in other cities, such as Fairmont or Clarksburg.

An RFP was issued seeking artwork to hang on each floor and in the lobby to celebrate the lost towns of the region, such as Willdale, Osceola and Spruce. Five local artists were selected to create the pieces.

"Each artist came up with an exhibit to highlight these lost towns. We're hoping that it will be dynamic and ongoing," Clark said. Augusta started at the Tygart Hotel so Woodlands is also working with them to do programming at the hotel, such as one-off shows and limited three-to-four day projects.

Some of the proceeds from the hotel will be designated for a fund to help create Work Force housing in the immediate area of the hotel.

"We really want to help people get into good homeownership opportunities by developing some new housing," Clark said. "Work Force housing development, for us, is really important."

Woodlands is also looking for other ways to engage local businesses in the hotel. Any ideas are welcome and can be submitted to Clark. Tip Top is considering offering coffee products, and Big Timber beer will be offered at the bar.

There will be 56 guest rooms, a full-service restaurant (in its original location) as well as a lobby bar. There will also be a small conference room on the second floor. The basement has been completely remodeled to house the hotel offices. Shane Jones, a graduate of Davis & Elkins College, will be serving as the general manager.

"There are a lot of good things going on in Elkins, a lot of people in the wings waiting to see what was going to happen. As soon as we started construction, our loan program started getting tons of requests for commercial real estate assistance. Elkins has done a great job of positioning itself for this kind of growth," Clark said.

More information about the Tygart Hotel project or Woodlands Development and Lending can be found at the organization's website, https://.woodlandswv.org, or by contacting Clark at dclark@woodlandswv.org or 304-404-2912.

Rotary is a global network of 1.4 million neighbors, friends, leaders and problem-solvers who see a world where people unite and take action to create lasting change - across the globe, in their communities, and in themselves.

Visit www.Rotary.org to learn more about Rotary International, visit the club's Facebook page - Rotary Club of Elkins – or contact club president Kenny George at kenneth.george@blueridgeriskpartners.com for more information about the Rotary Club of Elkins.