Wise County IDA buys vacant office building for $1.2M

The Wise County Industrial Development Authority purchased a vacant office building in the Lonesome Pine Regional Business and Technology Park with a $1.2 million loan from the Virginia Coalfield Economic Development Authority, officials announced Wednesday.

The 10,000-square-foot building sits on approximately 4.63 acres at 5957 Windswept Blvd. and came furnished. The building is adjacent to the Carbon Research and Development Co.’s Graphene Research Center and a Tier III data center.

The IDA originally sold the property to Southern Coal Corp., which built the office building. Davis Mining & Manufacturing Inc. most recently owned and occupied the building. The company vacated it in late fall 2021, and Wise County IDA applied for a VCEDA loan in January. The VCEDA board approved the loan in its February meeting.

“Wise County does not now have any available space for business recruitment efforts, and acquisition of this building and grounds will enhance the efforts of the IDA to offer commercial office space which would meet the concept standards of the Master Plan for the Lonesome Pine Regional Business and Technology Park,” Wise County IDA Executive Director Brian Falin said in a statement.

A technology business is interested in leasing at least part of the building, VCEDA Executive Director and General Counsel Jonathan Belcher said, but the plan is for the building to be available on a multi-tenant basis.

“The way the building is laid out, it really is conducive to being an incubator-type arrangement,” he said. “It’s a very marketable building that I think would appeal to any type of company that needed Class A-type office space.”

The building has 19 individual offices, a fire-resistant vault, four restrooms, a kitchen/break room, two conference rooms and a reception area at the entrance. Near the center of the building, an open, 600-square-foot area could suit varying needs.

A roughly 800-square-foot metal storage building is near the rear of the building. The building’s parking lot accommodates 30 vehicles.