MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The historic Morgantown Post Office on High Street is in the beginning stages of a transformation into a arts and cultural hub for downtown. The main portion of the building was completed in 1914 and it was placed on the historic registry in 1979.
The Building is owned by Historic Morgantown Post Office Building, Inc.(HPO) and has a board of directors made up of members from Your Community Foundation (YCF) and the Monongalia Arts Center(MAC).
HPO Morgantown president Jane Cardi said the building will be home to MAC, YCF and Morgantown History Museum. There are also plans for a rooftop garden and cafe and a strategy to join the Hotel Morgan and The Warner in a revitalization of South High Street.
“Bring people downtown for arts education, adult education, veteran education, for theater and art- all kinds of things,” Cardi said.
Recently, the roof, deck and other features were completely replaced by the Sutter Roofing & Metal Co., Arch Masonry & Restoration and the HE Neuman Company. Cardi said the new roof will enable more restoration to continue on the interior portion.
“We believe we have saved the building from further deterioration,” Cardi said. “We had multiple areas within the building where the water leaks and the water was just pouring in the building.”
Cardi said YCF offices will occupy the top level, the MAC will locate on the main floor and the Morgantown History Museum will be in the basement with an elevator that would go to the roof to the proposed roof garden and cafe.
“We want to completely redo that interior so we can have once again a very viable Monongalia Arts Center downtown,” Cardi said.
The current priority is to replace the boiler at a cost of about $80,000 and plaster repair estimated to cost another $20,000.
“It’s a short/long term goal- we need about $200,000 for a complete structural analysis and the final design plans,” Cardi said.
Cardi said the city of Morgantown and the Monongalia County commission have each supported the project along with the MVB Financial Corp. and many other private donations so far. She said work they are submitting applications for public and private grants to keep restoration work progressing.
HPO Morgantown will hold a public event Thursday, July 21 at 10 a.m.