This story appears in this morning’s Charleston Gazette.

By Eric Eyre
Charleston Gazette

The U.S. economy is “kind of sputtering along,” but that’s not a bad thing, BB&T CEO Kelly King told Charleston business leaders Wednesday night.

“That’s the way an economy has to rebuild itself during recovery, especially after a recession that was so deep and so broad,” said King, who heads the nation’s eighth-largest commercial bank.

Speaking at the Charleston Area Alliance’s “Annual Celebration” at the Clay Center, King said Americans shouldn’t expect a robust or “boomerang” economy during the next three to five years. Instead, he said, they’ll see slow, steady growth.

“What we need is jobs, jobs, jobs,” he said. “The recession is over. We are in recovery.” (more…)

This story appears in today’s Charleston Daily Mail.

By George Hohmann
Daily Mail Business Editor

If the federal government hadn’t overreacted to the 2008 financial crisis, “which whipped the country into a panic frenzy, we would have survived fine,” said Kelly King, chairman and chief executive officer of BB&T Corp.

“Several big firms would have failed, we would have had 30 days of anxiety, then we would have moved on,” King said. “We would have had a tough recession,” but not a catastrophe.

King delivered the keynote speech Wednesday at the Charleston Area Alliance’s Annual Celebration. More than 400 business leaders from the region attended the event at the Clay Center.

Given that the federal government did create a panic, “there were days you could see the whole system collapsing,” he said. “Given that we were in that situation, you had to step in. In that context, TARP (the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program, which pumped money into banks, General Motors, AIG and some other companies) was a good thing. But it did not have to happen.”

Although TARP gave the banking business a black eye because people still refer to it as the bank bailout, “when the dust settles the whole TARP program may actually turn a profit,” King said.

The federal overreaction was unfortunate, King said, because “when you have a big panic and the government steps in, it so undermines the system. The system is built on confidence. Before this, we bankers were fairly well thought of. Right after this we were down there with the lawyers.” (more…)

The story below aired this morning on WCHS Radio.

BB&T CEO Kelly Kings say business leaders in Charleston and around the nation are key to the an economic recovery.

King was the keynote speaker at the Charleston Area Alliance’s Annual Celebration at the Clay Center Wednesday night.

Generation Charleston Co-Char Ryan White says growing business is exactly what Charleston Alliance does.

“The importance of this organization is to encourage business to come in and add jobs, and also build a sense of community,” White said.

The Alliance’s Vice President, JoEllen Zacks, says over the next year the group will work to bring even more business to Charleston.

“Try to recruit companies here, help the companies that already are here become more successful, and improve the quality of life for everyone that lives here,” Zacks said.

King says more jobs can be created as the U.S. comes out of the economic downturn.

White says the Alliance will try to attract companies to drill in the Marcellus Shale in Charleston.  Several sites around the state, including an area in Kanawha County, have been considered.  White says they will work to bring it to Charleston.

“Bringing an ethane cracker to West Virginia, and what comes with that, which is additional chemical industry,” White said.

The story below appeared in yesterday’s Charleston Daily Mail. Generation Charleston, the Alliance’s emerging leaders group, has been working to promote downtown housing for four years and is hosting an Urban Living event later this summer.

By Paul Fallon
Daily Mail Staff

Ryan White, a member of an organization dedicated to attracting young people to the city of Charleston, believes urban-minded professionals are itching to move into the downtown.

That’s if affordable housing can be found. And White, cochairman of Generation Charleston, believes that is something the downtown area lacks.

But he believes one development in the city is a step in the right direction. Bill Turner, co-owner of the Loewenstein Building on Capitol Street, bought the large, historic structure about two years ago with the intentions of creating loft apartments for young, urban professionals.

And the effort is beginning to pay off after the renovations were completed a few months ago. Turner has rented 22 of the 24 apartments in the five-story building that sits in the heart of the city’s Village District.

“Our occupants are people that want to live, work and play downtown,” Turner said.

White agreed, saying the types of people who are attracted to downtown are typically young, about 30, and childless. They’re the ones who want to walk to their favorite haunts around the city.

“These are the people that want the convenience of going to dinner, or going to work and not having to drive to get there,” White said.

Although he has no specific evidence to back up his assumption, White believes that more affordable housing in downtown will be available for those who want to take advantage of the convenience of urban life.

However, Turner, a developer of both commercial and residential property, does not think an abundance of housing in the city will soon become available. He pointed out that developers must be able to find buildings they can turn into apartments at a reasonable price to make them affordable to tenants.

“This is the biggest challenge that needs to be overcome,” he said.  

And if developers can vault themselves over that hurdle then the benefits would be great for the city, White said. Affordable downtown housing could encourage professionals who already live in the area to stay in Charleston, and it could also help to attract people from other communities to the city, he said.

Both of these factors would help to increase the population of both the city and county, he said.

White and Turner agree that keeping the housing affordable is the key to attracting tenants. And Turner believes he is doing that.

For example, a single bedroom loft in the Lowenstein Building is $777 per month, Turner said.

“And all the tenant pays is electric,” he said.

However, that does not include cable or Internet service, Turner said.

The two-bedroom units, of which there are eight in the building, run $856 a month. However, only the one-bedroom apartments are currently available, he said.

Turner believes this illustrates that the apartments are affordable because it did not take them long to be rented.

Turner has also made a significant investment into the city. From acquisition of the building to renovations, the project cost about $2 million, Turner said.

The building is old, having been built in 1900, and there are many challenges associated with renovating a historic structure, he said.

Because it’s on the National Register of Historic Places, rules must be observed when renovating the building. For example, renovations must adhere as closely as possible to the original architecture of the building.

“We had to follow the state culture and history rules, Charleston Urban Renewal Authority Rules and city council rules,” Turner said. (more…)

The blurb below appeared in yesterday’s Charleston Daily Mail.

The Charleston Area Alliance is advertising for proposals from architectural firms to provide services necessary to complete a 3,522-square-foot expansion of the organization’s small business incubator.

The incubator is in the Alliance’s headquarters building, 1116 Smith St. The Alliance said the build-out will create eight additional offices in the incubator. Funds from the Alliance and the Appalachian Regional Commission will pay for the expansion.

Bids are due May 23. After an evaluation of respondents’ qualifications, the alliance will select a short list of three bidders and ask them to make oral presentations. The Alliance said it expects to award a contract in late June.

Visit www.CharlestonAreaAlliance.org to download the notice of request.

The story below appears in today’s Charleston Daily Mail.

By George Hohmann
Daily Mail Business Editor

The Dow Chemical Co. plans to invest about $40 million in its South Charleston plant over the next four years, said Jim Guidarini, head of Dow’s West Virginia operations.

“A lot of investment is going on in the site,” Guidarini told the South Charleston Economic Development Committee on Tuesday. “There is no gigantic project. It’s all small things – a couple of million dollars here and there. Things like refurbishing infrastructure, eliminating (production) bottlenecks, some safety upgrades.”

Dow has four manufacturing units at the South Charleston plant plus an extensive infrastructure.

“It’s exciting for us,” he said. “We have not invested a whole lot of money over the last five years in that site. Now we’re preparing to be ready for the long term.”

South Charleston Mayor Frank Mullens said, “That’s good news for us.”

Dow currently has about 250 employees at the South Charleston plant and “we are still by far the biggest occupant of the tech park,” with about 190 employees there, Guidarini said.

In addition, Dow has six manufacturing units at Bayer CropScience’s Institute site. Bayer CropScience employees currently operate those units. As previously announced, Dow is in the process of hiring its own operators. “That should be 75 to 90 people but they won’t be truly new employment for the area,” Guidarini said. Rather, some workers will be Bayer CropScience employees one day and Dow employees the next, he said.

Mullens asked Guidarini about the opportunities presented by the development of natural gas in the Marcellus Shale. Useful chemicals are removed from natural gas with a “cracker” – a multi-billion-dollar facility. Officials believe a cracker could rejuvenate West Virginia’s chemical industry.

“I know a number of groups are working hard at it – the Charleston Area Alliance, the governor’s (Marcellus to Manufacturing) Task Force, the Chemical Alliance Zone,” Guidarini said. “There’s a big upside and a great potential. I wouldn’t hazard to guess the likelihood. You’ve got to have a big chunk of land and a lot of infrastructure. I think there are viable places for it in West Virginia.

“I think in the Kanawha Valley we’re likely to see some downstream plants. We don’t have enough real estate in South Charleston for that. Bayer is pushing this because they do have the real estate for it, at Institute and New Martinsville.” (more…)

The story below aired yesterday on WSAZ-TV. The Charleston Area Alliance is working to push and promote the potential of cracker plants in West Virginia.

West Virginia could expect more than 2,300 direct jobs from building a plant to convert a Marcellus shale natural gas byproduct into a chemical industry staple.

That’s the estimate that state Commerce Secretary Keith Burdette gave Wednesday to fellow members of the Marcellus to Manufacturing Task Force.

The group held its first meeting since acting Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin formed it earlier this year. Its key goal is to attract and encourage employers that convert ethane into ethylene.

Task force members say Marcellus shale drillers are removing more than enough ethane during refining for a plant to turn it into the widely used chemical compound ethylene.

Burdette said building this $1.5 billion cracker plant would also create 498 indirect jobs while inducing 3,500 more throughout the state’s economy.

 The story below ran today on WCHS Radio.

Candidates running for at-large seats on Charleston City Council answered questions on the city’s user fee, road paving, storm water management and more during a forum hosted by Generation Charleston Tuesday.

Of the 11 candidates that will appear on the ballot, eight took part in the event.

T.J. Meadows with Generation Charleston moderated the meet and greet. He says it was an opportunity for residents to find out more about candidates.

“We wanted a chance to find out where they stand on the issues, and we couldn’t think of anything better than a forum where our members could actually put questions to the candidates,” Meadows said.

Municipal elections typically have a lower turnout than other elections.  Meadows says that’s a problem Generation Charleston wants to change.

“I think one of the most underplayed government roles is that of city council.  It’s hugely important,” Meadows said.  “It doesn’t get a lot of press.  People don’t get excited and run out to the polls.  Most of the issues that affect people are handled right here on the local level.”

Candidates discussed ways to encourage business development in the city, reduce violent crime and crub high gas prices.

Meadows says those topics are the kinds of things that people care about.  He says the only way to get things fixed is to get involved.

“We’re all around the water cooler all the time talking about how we don’t like this, or we don’t like that,” Meadows said.  “If you don’t show up to vote, you don’t have any means to complain.  People need to realize that the very thing they’re complaining about can be handled at the local level.”

The republican candidates in this year’s election are Chris Dodrill, L.G. Sturgill and Tom Lane.

Martha “Gale” Poore, Kasey Russell, Pat Brown, Jerry Ware, Andy Richardson and Mary Jean Davis are running as democrats.

Charles “Chuck Parks and Jason “Slim” Blackhurst are running as independents.

The six top vote-getters will make it onto council. The election is set for May 17.

This story aired Monday evening on WSAZ-TV.

Dozens of new jobs are coming to the area, many of which require rolling up your sleeves and getting a little dirty.

IVS Hydro just hired 30 people in Wood County. Now, it’s doing the same at its Kanawha County office.

“We do everything here from dry vac work to water blasting to dredge work to paintings and coatings,” IVS Vice President David Dawson said. “Just whatever’s needed here at different sites in the Kanawha Valley.”

IVS Hydro is a West Virginia-based company that does industrial services for many plants in the area. The company just hired 30 new employees and now wants to double that.

“We’re hiring laborers, operators and even supervisors for people who have experience,” IVS CEO Fred Clark said.

Experience in construction, demolition or chemical cleaning is a plus, but the main requirement is a strong work ethic.

“They may not necessarily have the training, but have the motivation and the desire to work in a strong industry and make a career out of industrial service,” Dawson said.

Providing dozens of different services means the workers wear many hats.

“It’s long hours. It’s emergency call out work, so the nature of it is somewhat demanding, and it requires really responsible people to be able to fulfill the jobs,” Dawson said.

The company is having a job fair from 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday at its Institute office, located along Route 25.

This story aired this morning on WCHS Radio.

The Charleston Area Alliance presented its plans for downtown development at Charleston City Council Monday.

The group’s chair of the Community Development Committee, John Ruddick, says it’s time for something fresh downtown.

“We’ve had plans previously that have been done, and they’ve kind of run their course.  They’re done,” Ruddick said.  “We need a new plan, a new blueprint for the next 10 years that we can follow.”

Ruddick says the Alliance has been successful in implementing many previous plans.  He says Capital Market, Capital Street redesign, Haddad Riverfront Park and the Clay Center are all examples of the group’s hard work.

Now it’s time to focus on new initiatives like Slack Plaza, Ruddick said.

Other priorities for the Alliance include improving East End and West Side housing possibilities.

“We want to dig into what we’re calling urban housing,” Ruddick said.  “There’s a whole host of problems on the West Side.”

Ruddick says he expects to frequent Council over the coming weeks and months to formulate more specifics.

“We want to work together,” Ruddick said.  “I think the city is committed to the plans.”