W.Va. governor dedicates road, hotel

November 22, 1996

By RICHARD F. BELISLE

Staff Writer

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - Gov. Gaston Caperton, winding down his eight years in office, returned to Martinsburg Friday to dedicate a new road in his name and cut the ribbon for Berkeley County's newest hotel. The road, Caperton Boulevard, leads into the main entrance of the new $60 Million Quad/Graphics printing plant scheduled to open in May. The governor was credited by local government and development officials Friday with being a strong influence in bringing the printing giant to Martinsburg.

The plant will start production with 200 employees and is expected to triple in size to more than 1 million square feet in 10 years or less, company officials said. By that time the work force will grow to about 1,000, they said.

Quad/Graphics, a Wisconsin-based corporation, has 8,500 employees working in nine plants, including six in Wisconsin, two in Georgia and one in New York State. They print Time, Newsweek and U.S. News and World Report magazines, Times-Mirror publications, Outdoor Life, field and Stream and Playboy, among others.

The Martinsburg plant will be the company's 10th printing facility. It will print newspaper advertising inserts on gravure and offset presses, company officials said.

The road opened Friday was built for the company by the state highway department. When finished it will run from Grade Road to the plant. The state is also widening Grade Road from the plant entrance to its intersection with W.Va. 9.

The plant is being built in the new 629-acre Berkeley County Industrial Park in Cumbo yards. Quad/graphics, the park's first tenant, bought 150 acres for its operation.

Caperton spoke for less than two minutes at Friday's dedication attended by about 50 local officials. He said when the governor's office talks about leadership in economic development that means money and Berkeley County knows more about that than anyone in the state.

The governor said he was "totally surprised" to learn the access road would carry his name. Last month he dedicated the Gaston Caperton Intermodal Transportation Center being built on the site of the old B&O train station in Martinsburg.

Later Friday the governor cut the ribbon for the new Hampton Inn hotel near the Martinsburg Mall.

Developer Bruce Van Wyk said the 99-room structure cost $4.2 million to build and will bring to nearly 1,000 the number of hotel rooms available in Berkeley County.

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