While the world turned a page and began a new calendar Wednesday, 2025 will still be filled with the continuation of events that began in 2024, or earlier.
HereƵs a look at some ongoing news stories to keep an eye on in the new year:
Grand Patrician Resort and Country Club to open
The planned Grand Patrician Resort and Country Club in Milton is expected to have a soft opening in May 2025 and a grand opening at the end of June. The Grand Patrician will have 109 rooms, an indoor pool and spa, eight large meeting spaces, a theater room, an auditorium with a stage and a 300-seat restaurant.
Outside there will be a small coliseum to host events, a chapel that can accommodate 75 for weddings, a country club and trails. The grand patrician began in 2017 and is expected to bring an economic boon to the small town.
The next phase of the project will be the resortƵs coliseum, construction of which is set to begin in 2026 with a projected completion date of 2028.
Huntington City Mission adds Low Barrier Shelter
Construction of Huntington City MissionƵs Low Barrier Shelter is expected to be complete by the end of July 2025. Huntington City Mission broke ground on the low barrier shelter on Nov. 27. The building will serve as a night-by-night shelter for the unsheltered homeless in Huntington. Currently, the MissionƵs chapel is being used for that purpose.
The new facility will provide cots, bathrooms, showers and laundry facilities. It will also have office space for community partners to provide health and behavioral health care, as well as an observation room and a medical exam room. The outside area of the shelter will have a bike rack and a courtyard that will be fenced in to protect clients from people trying to sell drugs. The low barrier shelter will cost $1.85 million.
The shelter converted its chapel as its current low barrier shelter for the past four years to meet the needs of HuntingtonƵs unsheltered individuals. What was meant to be a temporary use during COVID-19 has become a constant safe haven for unsheltered people.
Huntington gets a new mayor, council members
The City of Huntington will have five new elected officials in 2025. In the Nov. 5 general election, residents elected Republican Patrick Farrell as mayor. Farrell, who began his term Jan. 1, will serve four years.
Farrell said his first order of business will be to organize the budget to reflect his campaign priorities, which he said are public safety, followed by infrastructure and growing the economy.
City Council will also see new faces with Republican Rob Archer elected into one of the two at-large city council seats along with District 9 incumbent Ally Layman. Republican Jason Arthur was elected to the District 1 seat and Republican Linda Blough will serve as the District 8 representative. Republican Stacy Jo Holley was elected to serve as the District 9 representative.
Milton gets a new mayor, council members
Residents voted to make Shane Evans Milton City mayor during the 2024 general election.
Evans, who has lived in Milton for 52 years said his main priority as mayor would be to address the cityƵs water issues. Milton City Council will have three new members such as Scott Foster, Scott Bias and Chase Bryant. They will join incumbents Troy Nicely and Carl Harshbarger. Phyllis Smith was reelected as recorder.
Students to begin spring 2025 in new Milton school
Some Cabell County students are leaving an old building in 2024 with the completion of the new Milton Elementary School on Newmans Branch Road.
Teachers and other staff began moving their materials over after an official ribbon-cutting ceremony Dec. 17. While families were invited to tour the building on the same day, students will officially take their seats in their new classrooms for the spring semester on Jan. 7, following the districtƵs holiday break.
The school is the result of roughly five years of work. The school district began working on a bond proposal for renovations and new buildings that affected eight schools, including Milton Elementary, in 2019. Voters approved that bond call in August 2020, but due to delays related to COVID-19, a location change and materials needed, construction did not begin until May 2023.
Infrastructure projects to break ground
The Huntington Sanitary Board W.Va. 10 sanitary sewer extension project and its 3rd Avenue and 5th Avenue sanitary storm water separation project are expected to break ground in summer 2025 and are expected to take two years to complete.
The projects are two of several projects a part of a $200 million plan of the city to upgrade HuntingtonƵs public sanitary sewer system. The project on 3rd and 5th avenues will allow faster drainage in the streets, which will help mitigate flooding. The W.Va. 10 Extension project will extend sewer services to Hite-Saunders Elementary School, approximately 53 residences in Green Valley Heights and approximately 275 additional homes and businesses in the vicinity of W.Va. 10 between Green Valley Road and the existing Hal Greer #4 Lift Station.
The Huntington City Council approved three construction contracts for two infrastructure projects in late October that allows the Huntington Sanitary Board W.Va. 10 sanitary sewer extension project contract #1 to Tribute Contracting LLC for $3,839,150 and its 3rd Avenue and 5th Avenue sanitary storm water separation project to Tribute Contracting LLC for $11,357,555. The council also approved the W.Va. 10 extension project lifts station to CJ Hughes Construction Inc. for $1,486,590. The board originally estimated the cost for the separation project to be $18 million. Both projects are contracted to local contractors.
Woody Williams Center construction continues
Construction on Cabell County SchoolsƵ new Woody Williams Center for Advanced Learning and Careers will continue, and completion of the project in 2025 is a possibility.
The center is housed in the former Sears building at the Huntington Mall and will replace the current Cabell County Career Technology Center. It will include the programs currently offered at the career tech center Ƶ such as automotive technology, coding and pre-cosmetology, among others Ƶ and will have space for additional programs.
Neighborgall Construction began working on the over $48 million renovation in October 2023, and Cabell County Schools representatives at the time predicted construction would take approximately two years to complete.
PEIA rates set to increase
State employees are continuing to call for stabilization of public insurance through the Public Employees Insurance Agency.
The PEIA Finance Board approved a plan to increase premiums, deductibles, the spousal surcharge and co-pays at the end of 2024.
It will go into effect in July 2025 for active workers and January 2026 for retirees.
Heritage FarmƵs year-round ƵSnow OasisƵ could open
Heritage Farm Museum and Village began working on its planned year-round snow park in April or May, and Executive Director Audy Perry said he hopes the park will be completed in 2025.
The indoor/outdoor ƵSnow OasisƵ will be a year-round attraction featuring ski slopes, snow tubing, ice skating, ice slides and an indoor area to learn how to skate, play and build snowmen.
The park itself will be next to the farmƵs Adventure Park and is set to cover about 50 acres. While the park is under construction and inaccessible, visitors may still be able to see it from Heritage FarmƵs zip lines.
The hope for the project, Perry said when officially announcing the snow park in September, is to not only draw more people of all ages to the area and the growing tourism sector West Virginia has to offer, but also keep a part of Heritage Farm open year-round to create and keep more jobs.
Wayne County EMS excess levy kicks in
The Wayne County public services excess levy, which was passed in the May primary election by just two votes, will go into effect July 1, 2025.
The excess levy will provide about $2.8 million over the course of four years for emergency services throughout the county.
The raise in levy funding would constitute about $112 per year in property taxes, or about $10 per month for a typical home assessed at $96,000. Rates would vary depending upon the property type classification and value.
The excess levy proposal was the result of complaints and concerns over volunteer fire departments and emergency responders struggling to manage calls coming in. To help with some of the calls, the Wayne County Commission worked with Jan-Care Ambulance Service and signed a rental lease agreement for Jan-Care to service the Dunlow and surrounding areas.
The commission also signed an agreement with HealthTeam Critical Care Transport to create an EMS management system that Commissioner Jeff Maddox said could be operational by summer 2025.
Institute for Cyber Security construction will begin
Construction of the new Marshall University Institute for Cyber Security on 4th Avenue is set to begin in the summer.
The institute, part of MarshallƵs Innovation District, is set to be 80,000 square feet, with four floors and 13 labs.
Crews demolished properties at 1530 and 1540 4th Ave. in December to make room for the institute, which is slated to be completed by August 2027.
Construction continues at Nucor mill site
Nucor broke ground in October 2023 on the $3.1 billion steel mill it is constructing in Mason County.
The mill will serve customers in the Midwest and is expected to employ 800 people when fully operational.
Nucor expects to have 2,000 contractors on site by the first quarter of 2025, twice as many as it had in fall 2024.
Keith-Albee to reopen in 2025
HuntingtonƵs Keith-Albee Performing Arts Center saw progress made in 2024 on its extensive $30 million restoration project.
The theater closed in December 2023 to begin the three-phase project estimated to reach completion at the end of 2024, with a goal of reopening in early 2025.
Crews have been working on the original plaster and paint inside the venue, restoring it to its original shine and elegance before it once again welcomes patrons of the arts.
Chesapeake bypass construction to start
Construction of the long-awaited Chesapeake Bypass, also called the Tri-State Outer Belt, is scheduled to begin in 2025.
The four-and-a-half-mile section of road will connect the East Huntington Bridge in the Proctorville area to the bridge connecting the Chesapeake area and to the bridge to downtown Huntington.
While work on the project will begin this year, it is not scheduled to open to traffic until the fall of 2028.
Lawrence County battery plant site work continues
The bulk of the construction of a Chinese company planning to build materials used in batteries for electric cars will take place in 2025.
A partnership between Chinese electronic chemicals company Capchem Technology USA Inc. and the Lawrence County Economic Development Corp., the building on part of the former Dow Chemical property will be home to the development of a major lithium-ion battery electrolyte manufacturing facility.
The facility is projected to produce 100,000 tons of electrolytes annually. The plant is also expected to create 65 jobs.
Construction began in 2024, and some operations could begin in 2025. CapchemƵs website states it expects the plant to be fully operational in 2026.
