The Fayette Tribune, Oak Hill, W.Va.

Local News

June 27, 2012

Nonprofit to help fill former Foodland store

By C.V. Moore The Register-Herald

GAULEY BRIDGE — The commercial real estate company responsible for securing a recent contract for the former Foodland grocery store in Gauley Bridge is also exploring a relationship with the Upper Kanawha Valley Economic Development Corporation to assist them in their search for tenants at their building in Montgomery.

CB Richard Ellis (CBRE) says it is willing to enter into a non-exclusive listing agreement with the UKVEDC, a nonprofit that aims to “provide a successful environment for entrepreneurs, businesses, and industries” in the Upper Kanawha Valley from Marmet to Gauley Bridge.

CBRE is a national company that serves blue chip industries and major companies doing business in West Virginia from its base in Charleston.

Though the purchaser of the former Gauley Bridge Foodland has not yet been announced, it was confirmed Thursday at a meeting of the UKVEDC that the building is under contract.

As for CBRE’s work with the UKVEDC, a six-month agreement, not yet drafted, would charge the company with marketing the 5,200 square feet of vacant office space in the economic development agency’s “Technology Community Building” on Third Street in exchange for a 6 percent commission on the gross value of any signed leases.

“I think this is something, quite frankly, that we can’t put a price tag on,” UKVEDC Executive Director Dennis Jarvis told fellow board members Thursday.

“You all benefit by having our team behind you and at the same time your hands are not tied. If someone comes through the pipeline independent of us, you don’t owe us any commission,” CBRE Associate Broker DeWitt Blundon told the board.

“We work with nonprofits on a nonexclusive basis because we want to help nonprofits out.”

Jarvis also says he would like to work with CBRE on marketing some commercial properties identified but not owned by the UKVEDC that need leasees or purchasers, in the spirit of the organization’s mission to foster business in the local area.

“If it’s something you all are promoting for someone who wants to lease or sell in the Upper Kanawha Valley, we can evaluate each property on a case by case basis,” says Blundon.

“I think it’s a win-win if we can get our portfolio together to show him those properties,” says board member Michelle Fox.

Jarvis says he has talked with the UKVEDC’s funding sources — which include the Kanawha and Fayette county commissions — and says they want the organization to move quickly and get more leasees in the building so the nonprofit is self-sustaining.

Fayette County Commission President Matt Wender believes other stakeholders in the organization’s continued existence might include municipalities, local universities, businesses, utilities, banks, and perhaps other regional development authorities.

Currently using the Technology Community Building are Kelly Surveying, Brookfield Renewable Power, the Raleigh County Commission on Aging Home Health Services, Bridgemont Sustainability Institute, the Bridgemont CTC Workforce, and the National Publishing Innovation Center.

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