From devastation to revitalization: Rupert housing project nears completion
By Autumn Shelton, RealWV
RUPERT, W.Va. – A housing project over eight years in the making is getting ready for completion in Greenbrier County.
On Thursday, Greenbrier County Commission President Tammy Tincher and Matt Ford, president of the Greenbrier Environmental Group and the Meadow River Valley Association, were able to highlight the work that has been accomplished at the former Rupert Elementary School during an Energy Community Conversation on housing, hosted by the Interagency Working Group on Coal and Power Plant Communities and Economic Revitalization.
On June 23, 2016, after several rounds of thunderstorms, roughly 11 inches of rain fell on Greenbrier County, causing widespread flooding. This 1,000-year flood destroyed numerous homes and took the lives of 15 people county-wide, according to Tincher.
Out of that tragedy the Meadow River Valley Association emerged, first as a way to get information out to those in the community in the immediate aftermath of the flood, and then as an aspect of community redevelopment.
One of the immediate needs following the flood was ensuring adequate housing for residents who had either lost their homes, or whose homes had sustained major damage.
Prior to the flood, most of the homes in the Meadow River Valley were more than 50 years old and in a state of disrepair before the high waters entered them, Ford noted. Yet, people from various parts of the country came to help.
“People who were local came together like we had never seen before to help get housing in order after the flood,” Ford said, adding that organizations like the Appalachian Service Project helped build new homes, which alleviated some of the housing concerns.
However, housing projects still remained a concern.
“One project that continued to come up in community conversations was the Rupert Elementary School,” Ford explained. “It was built in the 1930s, and was the original high school.”
Although the building itself did not have flood water damage, water run-off from the mountains surrounding the school building flowed through the campus. As a result, the Greenbrier County Board of Education received funding to construct a new elementary school at a separate location, Ford continued.
“We knew we didn’t want another empty school campus in our community,” Ford said. “They are not good things, they house drug addiction, and other things end up taking those school campuses over.”
After bringing together various community partners, revitalization on the old Rupert school campus began.
Three of the buildings were developed into the Meadow River Valley Early Childhood Learning Center (The Marvel Center), an early childhood development and day care center. The old gym was taken over for a wrestling center and other athletic endeavors. That left the three-story, 21,000 sq. ft. main building, according to Ford.
After partnering with Elkins-based Woodlands Community Development, Ford said it was determined the building’s old classrooms would be turned into a mix of affordable housing and six market rate housing units. There will be a total of 20 apartment units, 16 one-bedroom units and four two-bedroom units.
“So, that three-story building is now the Rupert School Apartments,” Ford said. “If you were there at this very moment you would see contractors feverishly working to get that project done by the end of the year.”
The first floor of the building will be where the market rate housing units are located, according to Tincher. Amenities for these units will include easier access, more storage space and increased living space.
Tincher stated that the hope is to attract remote workers to these units.
“West Virginia has been blessed with a remote work program through West Virginia University and Brad and Alys Smith – Brad Smith is from West Virginia – and they founded the Ascend remote work program.”
While the Ascend program is an attractive option for those looking to relocate to the Mountain State, Tincher noted that current West Virginians are also encouraged to apply for market rate housing in the Rupert School Apartments.
As for the affordable housing units, they will be single-family units supplemented by state and county benefits that certain families and individuals may qualify for, Tincher added.
Even though this project is nearing completion, it wasn’t easy. It has had issues that most housing projects like this have, Tincher admitted.
“The biggest thing with any project is you don’t get a lot of buy-in until dirt is moved or the project is almost completed,” Tincher said. “You don’t have the optimism in the onset. For us, that has been one of the biggest issues – having that buy–in that the project can work.”
Tincher said that since the project has taken such a long time, it has been difficult to keep those in the community positive about it. But, now the project is becoming a model for the nation and for other West Virginia counties that are facing the problem of what to do with their vacant school buildings.
“The key word is collaboration. You’ve gotta get all the pieces of the puzzle to come together to make it work,” Tincher concluded. “Across the country we know that this issue of housing just keeps coming up, and there’s not a clear answer for it. So having to bring everybody to the table to have the conversation and brainstorm is, in my mind, the only way that’s going to work to get closer to a solution for this problem.”
