Huntington featured in Forbes magazine

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Huntington featured in Forbes magazine

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Huntington featured in Forbes
By JEAN TARBETT HARDIMAN
The Herald-Dispatch

In a list of the "Best Places for Business and Careers" created by Forbes Magazine, Huntington ranked 130th among 200 metropolitan areas across the country.

Charleston ranked 166th, and Morgantown was highlighted among the top 10 in a list of the the "Best Small Places for Business

The rankings were based on colleges in the area, the cost of doing business, the cost of living, crime rate, culture and leisure, educational attainment, income growth, job growth and net migration.

Huntington ranked first overall in cost of living.

"There really are incredible values in real estate here, both commercial and residential," said Mark Bugher, president of the Huntington Regional Chamber of Commerce. "When you think, square foot by square foot, what a house costs here versus a major metropolitan area, it's a difference of couple thousand or a million dollars or more."

Energy costs are low in the area as well, Bugher said, which may have affected both the "cost of living" rating and the "cost of doing business" rating.

"All of us that live here know it's a terrific place to live and a good value here because of the quality of life and the cost of living," Bugher said.

There are some problem areas for the Huntington metropolitan area -- which comprises Cabell and Wayne counties in West Virginia; Lawrence County, Ohio; and Boyd and Greenup counties in Kentucky -- but the report includes a lot of good news, said Jerry McDonald, president of the Huntington Area Development Council.

"If you try to smell the future here and look at what's going on in our market with a booming medical community, a booming university and a viable and sustainable downtown -- and you combine that with new manufacturing and new jobs to the area -- it smells pretty good to me," he said. "Combine that with this being a less costly place to do business and live, it all adds up to a bright future."

Cal Kent, vice president for business and economic research at Marshall, said he's cautious about the Forbes list.

"Economists usually don't put a lot of stock in these types of lists because if you change the weightings (of each category), you change the outcomes," he said.

That being said, the message is pretty clear about the need for the area to retain more of its college graduates, Kent said.

Huntington's poorest rankings were in the categories of culture and leisure (190th), educational attainment (188th); colleges (164th) and net migration (148th).

The Huntington area has suffered mightily in out-migration in the 18-35 age group, often because college graduates can't find a good job here, Kent said. With Marshall, Ohio University Southern and Morehead State, the problem is not the availability of higher education, it's keeping the graduates here, he said.

McDonald said a consultant recently determined the area is 40 percent below the national rate in terms of residents with bachelor's degrees. A high dropout rate among high school students is a problem as well, he added.

One good thing about rankings such as the Forbes list is that it points out areas that need some focus, said Steve Roberts, president of the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce.

"We look at them and say, 'OK, we need to recognize that while we're educating a lot of people in Cabell County and the Tri-State, the rest of the country is doing the same thing, and we can't rest on our laurels," he said.

It's the same thing with providing entertainment. The cultural offerings of the area are wonderful, but maybe there needs to be even more if the region is going to compete, Roberts said.

"What we have to do is build an economy so people have the money to do more," he said. "Those kinds of goods and services will follow if we build an economy that allows people to do more."

When it comes to things like arts and leisure, Bugher suspects that those who did the evaluation didn't consider the proximity of Huntington to other markets, including Charleston.

"One problem we have when the outside world looks at Huntington is that they look at a small area. ...They're not casting the net far enough out," he said.

Some around the state think that regionalism -- combining governments in the Huntington and Charleston areas to create a single, larger metropolitan area -- could address some problems that the area faces in attracting businesses from other parts of the country.

"If you look at Charleston and Huntington combined, you end up in the top 100 metro areas and show up on all these different radar screens," Bugher said. "You're not really a larger market, but you look like it on paper."

Bugher said he hasn't endorsed any particular plan, but combining government operations can often reduce costs, he said. "It's been proven too many times in communities like Lexington, Louisville, Jacksonville, Fla., and Indianapolis."

There seems to be a sense of competition between Huntington and Charleston that has lasted for decades, "and unfortunately, I think both communities have suffered because of that," Bugher said. "No one outside the area cares."

Bugher said he thinks the business community operates regionally already, but political divisions need to consider change.

"The best and only way to accomplish this is to get people in different communities to know each other," he said. "Once people have that personal relationship, it gets easier."

McDonald said a regional government could be a good long-term solution, but he'd like to concentrate on improvements at the local level first.

"We're busy growing our own medical community, expanding Marshall University, building a beautiful downtown and manufacturing jobs," McDonald said. "Mergers raise red flags and everybody's antenna goes up. We have to focus on getting our own area a higher ranking. It could be a little distraction even from what we're trying to do here locally."

Good things are happening, folks said. Kent said the next 10 years could bring dramatic, positive change to the local economy. One is the Marshall Institute for Interdisciplinary Research, a proposed project that needs $36 million to get started and would accelerate biotechnology research and spin-off businesses. The other is a new Multimodal Transportation Industrial Park planned for the Michael A. Perry Prichard Industrial Park.

"When that corridor is opened up and we can start using air, rail and barge out of the same area, (and when the MIIR project becomes reality) that could cause growth over the next decade to explode in this area.

"I'm more encouraged right now about the possibilities that we have," Kent said. "It's going to be 10 years before we all see the results of this, but after this decade, we're going to look back and say, 'Wow, that was quite a ride.' That's a professional opinion, not putting on the rose-colored glasses and singing the Pollyanna song."
Source: Herald-Dispatch

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Post by AmpedNow »

The reason real estate is so cheap in WV is because of the lack of high-paying jobs, supply and demand issues aside.

I don't know anybody here who could (or would) pay $400,000 for a freaken townhouse...

Perhaps as Putnam County continues to expand, Huntington/Charleston will eventually be one continuous urban area.
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Post by SPIKE NESMITH! »

Putnam County is expanding? Wow. I wish that there were some online news source that dealt specifically with what was going on in that region, so we could track the expansion. I'd be reading that sucker everyday. Maybe one day that expansion could include a WalMart - i bet the folks there would love one.
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Post by Arp2 »

SPIKE NESMITH! wrote:Putnam County is expanding? Wow. I wish that there were some online news source that dealt specifically with what was going on in that region, so we could track the expansion.
There is! Here's one: http://www.putnamherald.com

Here's another! http://www.putnampost.com/
Maybe one day that expansion could include a WalMart - i bet the folks there would love one.

Everybody loves a Wal~Mart! A new one, especially....they're so big and open and bright....and handy and convenient!
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SPIKE NESMITH! wrote:Putnam County is expanding? Wow. I wish that there were some online news source that dealt specifically with what was going on in that region, so we could track the expansion. I'd be reading that sucker everyday. Maybe one day that expansion could include a WalMart - i bet the folks there would love one.
And here I was thinking I was the cheap shot artist.
:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
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Post by Hoosier Daddy »

Arp2 wrote:
Maybe one day that expansion could include a WalMart - i bet the folks there would love one.

Everybody loves a Wal~Mart! A new one, especially....they're so big and open and bright....and handy and convenient!
The sound of jackhammers, and concrete trucks, and bulldozers, and backup alarms on all that heavy equipment. And lit up all night like Candlestick Park for a twi-night double header.

Jobs. Growth. Progress.

Ahhhhh!!!!!!

:D
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Post by AmpedNow »

Hoosier Daddy wrote:
Arp2 wrote:
Maybe one day that expansion could include a WalMart - i bet the folks there would love one.

Everybody loves a Wal~Mart! A new one, especially....they're so big and open and bright....and handy and convenient!
The sound of jackhammers, and concrete trucks, and bulldozers, and backup alarms on all that heavy equipment. And lit up all night like Candlestick Park for a twi-night double header.

Jobs. Growth. Progress.

Ahhhhh!!!!!!

:D
Amen.

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Post by Big Media »

Yeah... and damn it, K-Mart sucks!
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