The Upshur County Commission received $714,910 from the West Virginia Water Development Authority to help build complete phase one of the John C. Allen Regional Hub.

The announcement was made on Jan. 6, 2025, and Upshur County Commission President Sam Nolte said the county applied for this grant through the Region VII Planning & Development Council.

“This money will be part of Phase One of the development of the hub, so we’re looking at all the infrastructure: water, sewer, electric, grading of the site and the construction of at least one full-size field,” Nolte said. “Potentially, we could have three of the fields done and playable within this phase.”

Phase One includes all the on-site earth work, establishing utilities and laying out the parking lots.

“All those things are important to be able to utilize the property, so getting all that done is a good start, and you want to run all your infrastructure for the potential building that will go there eventually,” Nolte said. “That’s the biggest ticket item on this project, but we’re hopeful we can get two baseball fields done, one multipurpose field and maybe the Snowflex [tubing run] and the magic carpet lift.”

Phase One also includes some of the lodging shown in the draft rendering provided by Civil & Environmental Consultants, Inc.

“It would hopefully include the mountain bike trails, too; completing Phase One will allow us to hopefully get to a point where we can start utilizing the site,” Nolte said. “Now, that would be contingent on us securing some additional funding.”

Upshur County Commissioner Kristie Tenney thanked the Water Development Authority for kicking off their funding efforts for the project.

“We are thrilled to announce the launch of a funding opportunity for the John C. Allen Regional Hub, made possible through a generous Economic Enhancement Grant from the Water Development Authority,” Tenney said in a statement. “We sincerely appreciate the support of Region VII Development Council, the Upshur County Development Authority, the Governor’s Office, Tourism Secretary Ruby, Economic Development Secretary Graney, Deputy Chief of Staff Ann Urling, Chief of Staff Brian Abraham, and Marie Prezioso Executive Director of Water Development Authority.”

“This marks an exciting moment for Upshur County as we celebrate the beginning of this future project for tourism and recreation in our region,” Tenney said.