Downtown Clarksburg’s roadways have more than one large building that helps frame the skyline of the seat of Harrison County. Some of the buildings are fully operational, some are partially filled, and some are in states bordering disrepair.
Few buildings, however, are as synonymous with downtown Clarksburg, its historic past, and its prominent heyday as The Empire Bank building situated on the corner of Fourth Street and Main.
While the building that is well over a century old is still prominent, the seven-story structure has witnessed an ongoing downturn of businesses that have occupied it. At this moment, only one tenant occupies a portion of the building – MVB Bank.
The good news? It could change. And, at the present time, the plans for the structure are more reality than hyperbole. In fact, the new proprietors of the building are hoping it will be the cornerstone of a Clarksburg renaissance with the freshly dubbed “Empire 1907,” which is a reflection on the year the building is believed to have opened in Clarksburg.
Less than a year ago, Nesting Owl LLC purchased the building at a public auction at a price under the appraised value. The group acquired the structure with a winning bid, with all prices included, of $223,000.
Wayne Jefferson Berry II, Samantha Athey, Geremey Engle, and Clint Athey make up the LLC. They are all professionals with a diverse background who, according to Engle, stumbled upon the property being put up for auction on a website at a time when they needed to find a property to invest in.
After a real estate investment became problematic to the group due to what Engle described as “non-favorable ordinances” in a part of Virginia, they sold property there through a 1031 Exchange. A 1031 exchange is a swap of one real estate investment property for another that allows capital gains taxes to be deferred. Engle said the swap requires an abbreviated time window to find a property to invest, or swap, in.
“The Empire was one of the properties available to invest in,” Engle said. “… Eventually, we ended up at auction and with the building.”
The owners, not newcomers of the development game, did not go into the purchase with blinders on. While the price was good at auction, they knew the investment to bring it up to par and make it work to their vision was well into the seven figures.
“This is a multi-million-dollar investment,” said Engle. “Structurally, the building is good, but there are challenges in front of us.”
Some of the challenges include putting in a sprinkler system. Putting in a staircase as the existing one is a spiral one not meeting code – it is 28 inches wide. The elevator is too small.
“You are well over $1 million between the sprinkler, fire upgrades including alarms, and addressing the elevator situation,” said Engle. “There will have to be another elevator and stairwell put in.”
To that end, the group has been working with the State Fire Marshals office, City of Clarksburg Code Inspector Ashley Carr, and local firm WYK Associates, Inc. The Fire Marshal spent the better of a day working with the group to identify issues, Carr explained items that needed to be done that Engle said was invaluable, while WYK President James Swiger also provided his expertise.
“James Swiger has been amazing and walked with us throughout the building and listened to our vision prior to our purchase,” said Engle, who is aware of WYK’s work on the recently restored Robinson Grand Performing Arts Center. “He has already helped us with some ideas that could be advantageous for getting us where we hope to be.”
For those who believe the goal is to reopen the structure as a bank or financial center, you would be almost completely wrong. Although MVB Bank has recently signed a new five-year lease to keep their small portion of operations in place, the plans are bigger – much bigger – than just a bank.
“It’s important to us to rebrand the building, which is the Empire 1907 theme. It is also important to keep the history of the building in place, which is why our plans are bank-themed,” said Engle. “The result, we hope, is not only something for local residents and businesses, but for tourism as well.”
On the first floor, the plan is to be home to the Empire National Brewery. The brewery, along with what would be a Tex-Mex-themed restaurant, will all carry the bank theme.
“The house beer will be the Highland Beer (named after Empire Bank founder Virgil L. Highland). We’ll have a Bull Run Brew, which pays tribute to Clarksburg being the birthplace of Stonewall Jackson, and other unique items that we hope will create some buzz,” Engle said.
The brewery and restaurant will be the centerpiece to making everything else planned work. The destination, the group believes, will get individuals coming downtown by driving or walking there.
“It’s easy to get to and we know parking, for some, will be an issue. We want people to understand you’re in a city so you will have to walk a little bit. There is plenty of parking that is just a short walk away,” he said.
The other concepts?
There will be a fitness center above the MVB space. In fact, you can pre-enroll in it already and it will help individuals’ health and the health of the group investing.
Looking for office workspace? They will have a co-share office area on the second floor where entrepreneurs can move into their own space. Once that is done, the third floor will be worked on. The third floor will consist of a residential and business component.
“The third floor will be multiple short-term rentals; corporate rentals, Airbnb’s,” Engle, who said all the stages could take two to three years to complete, said. “There is no place to stay short term, including on the work front, in the immediate area.”
The fourth through seventh floors will serve the residential front exclusively. Engle said there will be apartment units made available.
“This will include studio units up to three-bedroom apartments,” he said.
“For this to work, all the businesses have to come together to see this as an opportunity for everyone. We really need the local population to buy into it as well. We need a mindset of doing this together,” he said. “It’s important to stop seeing the business across the street or down the street as competition, but rather a group to collaborate with to get people into the downtown and stay downtown. If this works for us, you will see the other vacant spaces and buildings fill up as well.
“We’re pretty sure no one wants to see our building sitting like it has been for so long again,” Engle continued. “The reason for it was the fixes needed are super expensive.”
Expensive is a word that has ended previous endeavors in revitalizing old, historic buildings in downtown Clarksburg. Which leads to the question of “is all of this going to happen?"
“There’s a little uncertainty for some of this as it’s a substantial project. What we’re certain of is that there will be a restaurant and brewery even through we’re not restaurant people,” said Engle. “We have to hire people and hiring people right now is a challenge.”
The group is confident they will get it right. Although early in the process for the restaurant and brewery, Engle said the menu is “practically done,” and the beer list and menu pricing is in place.
“We’d like to see it open as soon as possible. We would hope January 1 of next year,” he said, “but there are a lot of variables that could force a change to that thought process.”
To help make things a reality, the group is selling pre-admission applications. As noted above, that can be done for the fitness center as well as the co-share office space. It can be found on the Web site that is hyperlinked below either today, or no later than next week.
“Those applications, which are $65, shows the bank we have these non-refundable applications if we open and that the interest is there,” he said. “We think the community is very interested in what we’re doing.”
If local social media is any indication, Engle is correct. The turning on of the exterior lights at the top of the building, aided through a $5,000 grant from the City of Clarksburg, is the first time that has happened in decades.
“The city has been receptive to us,” Engle said. “We hope the community will be receptive as well.”
Click HERE for the Web site. Click HERE for the Empire 1907 Facebook page.
Editor’s Note: Many of the images are by Paul Cook Photography (you can visit his Website HERE) and supplied by Empire 1907. Top two photos show the building during the day and the architcture at the top of the building above the main entrance. The third image shows some of the items that have been removed - 34.32 tons worth. There architectural renderings shown include the restaurant and brewery area, followed by the coshare area.The bottom image shows the Empire recently lit up for the first time in decades.
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