Berkeley County gets $1.2 million grant for business park

March 29, 2005

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - A $1.2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce will be used to help build an access road, extend public water and sewer lines and install fiber optic cable into the Tabler Station Business Park, according to a press release issued Monday from U.S. Rep. Shelley Moore Capito's office.

The Tabler Station Business Park is between U.S. 11 and Interstate 81, at the intersection of U.S. 11 and Tabler Station Road between Martinsburg and Inwood, W.Va.

"Bringing high-skilled jobs to the Eastern Panhandle is a top priority," Capito, R-W.Va., said in the press release. "When completed, the park will be a magnet for companies looking to expand and offer new jobs to local residents."

James M. Seibert, president of the Berkeley County Development Council, said, "It will enable us to move forward with developing key infrastructure for the Table Station Business Park."

Members of the Berkeley County Development Authority unanimously voted in December 2003 to move forward with the purchase of a 326-acre parcel of land. Authority members paid $4.1 million for the land, which was known as the Criswell property.

At that time, Bob Crawford, executive director of the Development Authority, said the land was primed for economic development.

"This is probably the most desirable industrial piece of ground in the county because of its closeness to the interstate, the size, the proximity to the airport and the fact that utilities are already basically there," Crawford said.

Officials with the Region 9 Planning and Development Council helped obtain the $1.2 million grant, according to the press release.

In March 2004 the first piece of property in the business park was sold to A&S Warehousing Distribution, which already owned an adjacent eight-acre parcel. An additional two acres were sold, mostly to be used for parking.

At that time the land was sold for $65,000 an acre.

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