HMDA hears from Pullman Developers
For HNN by Art Harvath

Pullman Developer Tim Rollins

Tim Rollins and Bill Dargusch were in Huntington Monday January 28 to present the Huntington Municipal Development Authority an outline of the Pullman Square project and to also answer any questions. The meeting was held in the mayor’s conference room at City Hall.

What was once a rarely heard name in connection with Pullman Square is quickly becoming well known in Huntington. Bill Dargusch, of Continental Real Estate Companies in Columbus, Ohio, was introduced to the board by HMDA chairwoman Vickie Shaffer as one of “two gentlemen representing Metropolitan Huntington.” Tim Rollins was the other gentleman being referred to by Shaffer. Also, when introducing himself to one of the board members, Dargusch referred to himself as “one of your developers.”

In a telephone conversation several weeks ago with Tim Rollins, this reporter asked Rollins of his relationship with Continental. Rollins replied that Continental provided him with office space in their building. No mention was made of any working relationship with Continental or Bill Dargusch.

In his presentation to the board Rollins talked about the 12 screen, 50,000 square foot movie complex that is to be part of the project.

“The theater will serve as the ‘quote’ anchor for the project, and will be one of the primary traffic drivers for attracting people down to the site,” said Rollins.

He also discussed plans for the buildings directly across from Pullman Square. “A big part of this and one of the things we think that really sets this development apart from a traditional development is the fact that we’re putting all this new construction and tying it into the existing building stock across the street,”

One of the questions asked was about a connection to Riverfront Park. To this Rollins said that “it hasn’t gone by the wayside yet.”

“There are a lot of complicated factors….and we’re still exploring the capability of that,” added Rollins. This question has come up several times and to date no one has said that it will happen for sure. At the Huntington Urban Renewal meeting on January 22nd, Shaffer said that the connection was “part of the intermodal plan.”

Board member Cal Kent asked about financing for the project. Rollins said that the financial package is coming from a series of different financial sources. He said some of it is coming from grant dollars, some of it will be coming from 3rd party construction loans, and some of it from equity investing.

Kent asked Rollins to break it down into dollar amounts for each group. Rollins replied that “there is in terms of the grant dollars…there’s, you know, in the neighborhood of say $25 million in one shape or form or another that will make up the capital structure.”

“There is up to $5 million in equity for the project, and a construction loan in the neighborhood of $15 million for the development,” added Rollins.

Kent then asked Rollins if the developer will purchase the land at market value. “Discussions are still underway concerning the price of purchase,” Rollins replied.

When asked if financing for the project was in place, Rollins said that financing was still in negotiations.

The board did give its initial approval of the $10 million to help in the construction of Pullman Square.

In other business, Huntington Department of Public Works Director George McClennen presented a project status report of Kinetic Park to the board.

Work has been on hold since November in order to re-evaluate the engineering design on the remaining fill. A revised grating plan was recently submitted to the contractor and the contractor has been requested to provide a revised schedule for completion of the work.

In addressing the board McClennen said that “essentially Kanawha Stone hasn’t done much work the last 4 to 5 weeks because of the weather and some of the things we’ve been re-evaluating.”

“My guess is that it will be about 4 to 6 weeks until done, depending on the weather,” added McClennen.

The major items remaining are completion of grading on the north slope, construction of an access road that has to go up to the top level, construction of a gabion retaining structure across Fourpole Creek, and the rework of retention pond #1.

At the December meeting of HMDA, Larry Stone, director of the West Virginia Division of Labor, Wage and Hour section, questioned whether Kanawha Stone has been in compliance with the state’s wage and hour laws. He told the board that before issuing final payment to Kanawha Stone that it was HMDA’s responsibility to ensure compliance with state law. He specifically questioned the calculation of certain insurance benefits by Kanawha Stone for its employees. The matter is under investigation by Walker’s office.