Spring is upon us and things are hopping in St. Albans. New businesses continue to open in St. Albans as Cannabist opened up on March 11th and Pet Supplies Plus, in the SA Mall, continues to prepare for their opening sometime in May. Riley’s Case Knives will be opening up soon on Main Street in between the Café and the old Bank of St. Albans (which use to be the St. Albans News Stand).
Our great city has become a destination spot for folks in several surrounding counties. A friend of ours and his family, who lives in Charleston, spent a Saturday in SA shopping, eating at Shuckers, and grabbing some yummies at Lil Bit of Heaven Cupcakes! He was really impressed with SA and what is happening here.
“Let’s go to Saint Albans this evening for dinner, drinks, and shopping.”
I had lunch with the Charleston CVB President and Bill Currey about a month ago and he was commenting and congratulating us on what is happening in SA. Tim, who lives in Charleston, also told us that when people in Charleston are discussing what they are going to do for the evening, many talk about coming to St. Albans! He said this never happened in the past. We need to continue taking pride in our community and more and more people are going to realize how great a place St. Albans is becoming.
We recently began tearing down more dilapidated homes in town with one on Drew Street and one on Washington Street already completed and two more will be torn down starting April 24th. We have several more contracts signed or in the process of being signed to have even more to be torn down!
We are getting closer to getting the old SA Jr. High torn down. We signed the contract giving SA the property but have to finish the title work and then have the closing before we gain control of the property. City Council has approved using up to $500,000.00 of ARPA funds to get it torn down.
Progress continues to be made on the new police station in the old Chase Bank building along Rt. 60. We have needed this for many years and hopefully can take possession in August or September. The present police station was built when SA had 13 full-time officers, and now we have 26 when fully staffed. The new station will be state of the art and one of the most up-to-date facilities in the entire State of WV!
Mark your calendars for this year’s Yak Fest on June 17th and 18th, with the Tour De Coal taking place on June 18th! St. Albans is WV’s best-kept secret, but the secret is getting out! May God continue to bless each and every one of you and our great city!
