Back on Schedule
Weather didn’t derail site work
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ELKINS -- After getting off to a late construction start in January, things are now moving along well for the 28,000-square foot, $11.6 million Event Center being built behind the Elkins Railroad Depot and Rotary Amphitheater.
Randolph County Development Authority Director Robbie Morris told The Inter-Mountain that site work on the project is about to wrap up.
"Construction is going really well despite all of the weather hassles, and site work is kind of wrapping up for a little bit right now," Morris said. "They are working on pouring foundations for underneath the building, footers and all that. The first shipment of steel is expected to be delivered a week from today and there will be about 12 shipments of steel all together."
Morris said that construction on the facility itself should start "going vertical" by the end of July.
"They are working on getting all the utilities, electric, plumbing, gas, water and all the other things like that run into the location," Morris said.
"Overall, things are going really well, considering how it started off. This construction was supposed to take off in January, but because the ground was covered with snow the entire month, we weren't able to get officially started until February. But we are still on schedule to have everything completed by May of next year."
After most of the heavy equipment work is done at the site, parking lot construction for the facility will begin, he added.
"We don't want to put the pavement down too early and then start rutting it or things like that," Morris said. "For a while we are going to have super-heavy equipment going in and out of the work site. But they are getting the storm water management systems in and the draining for the parking lot installed."
Morris also gave an update on the new section of the Randolph County Industrial Park, which will be located on the 71-acre tract of land that is situated across the street from the IOOF home on Georgetown Road. The RCDA purchased the land through an auction in early 2022.
"We are still trying to finalize the last little bit of the permits that we need," Morris said. "It should be about wrapping up, and then we can start working on the entrance to the Industrial Park. There's still a chance we could get it going this year, if not, it will be the first thing that we do in 2026."
The entrance to the new portion of the Industrial Park will be built somewhere off the River Bend Park Road.
The construction site for the Event Center in Elkins looks different after five months of work. Steel is expected to start arriving at the site next week.