I haven't been to downtown Huntington for a few months and I was just curious how it looked. Has it brought many people back to town for shopping & eating?
| Author | Comment | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 W0LFMAN
|
I heard the Super Block is open in Huntington.... |
Lead | ||
|
Posts: 7209 12/16/04 07:47:00 Administrator |
|
|||
|
|
||||
|
marshallmark |
Re: I heard the Super Block is open in Huntington.... | #1 | ||
|
Posts: 73 12/16/04 09:43:19 |
Absolutely.... its crowded every night, and there is only one store open presently (Empire Books). The theater is a wonderful addition, and the place is first class. In coming months, there will be an Uno's, Cheesburger in Paradise, all you can eat pasta place, a Tex-Mex restaurant, plus a bunch of retail stores.
The developer has been so pleased they are looking into buying the old Stone & Thomas store across Third Avenue to renovate and put in specialty stores. Hope that works out! 
|
|||
|
|
||||
|
ThunderZone |
Re: I heard the Super Block is open in Huntington.... | #2 | ||
|
Posts: 438 12/16/04 09:44:56 |
Yeah Wolf, some of the stores are open...But not all...When everything is up and running I think it could help a ton...Construction workers are still down there trying to get everything open...The new movie theatre is now open, they say the audio is fantastic, I'll now first hand Saturday...Empire Bookstore is also open.
Other businesses still under construction, but opening soon are UNO's Pizza, Starbuck's Coffee, Funny Bone Comedy Club...There are others, but that is all I can think of off the top of my head. It looks really nice once you start walking around inside the block...I hope everything works out well...Huntington could use the shot in the arm. |
|||
|
|
||||
|
Thunders1 |
Re: I heard the Super Block is open in Huntington.... | #3 | ||
|
Posts: 398 12/16/04 10:15:45 |
Place is going to be great! I am pumped about how it looks and it is going to get better. Not only are there going to be stores but they are in the middle of doing landscaping all down 3rd Ave. from the old Pied Piper down to Pullman. They are dividing the road in the middle with a median that will have landscaping with trees and such and they are redoing all the sidewalks all the way down making it look as though they are made of bricks and such. It is going to look very pleasing to the eye and eventually they are going to try and put bike paths that lead from Ritter down to Pullman so people can ride their bikes if they want, which I recommend not only for exercise but it is a whole different experience when you are riding your bike. You notice a lot more about the city and it is easier to take in the scenary. I highly recommend it to anyone.
They are also supposed to start the streetscaping and landscaping to 4th Ave this summer maybe to tie in Marshall to Pullman. In a few years this place will be really nice. ALso, found out that a group of investors is interested in buying Keith Albee to make it a performing arts center. That will be great because that is a great place to see things. An exciting time for Huntington. |
|||
|
|
||||
|
GreenBison |
Re: I heard the Super Block is open in Huntington.... | #4 | ||
|
Posts: 235 12/16/04 10:44:55 |
Don't get me wrong, it's all nice and everything. But.... I just can't believe that it took Huntington over 30 years to do this, and everything they brought in for the Super Block are minimum wage jobs and duplicate business' that we already have. If it takes them 30 some years to bring something like that in, then we'll NEVER see them bring in real industry with real jobs. JMHO.
... and don't even get me started on KineticPark. 
|
|||
|
|
||||
|
sturt |
How cool would it be | #5 | ||
|
Posts: 482 12/16/04 11:08:47 |
...to have a circular bike path that would lead from Pullman to Marshall to Ritter, back to Pullman. And if you could figure out a way to run it by riverfront park for even a short stretch, all the better.
There definitely will need to be a regular bus line from Pullman to The Joan on gamedays... is that already established? |
|||
|
|
||||
|
Thunders1 |
Re: How cool would it be | #6 | ||
|
Posts: 398 12/16/04 15:42:22 |
They are talking of doing the bike paths from park to park eventually and to Pullman and river front. I think it will happen someday but will finish this first.
I think they do have a bus that takes you from MU CAfe already to the game for people who want to get their drink on. I guess that will continue. Can't wait to see this place in about 5-6 years. Will be totally different than anything we have seen. Now one thing they need is a major airport and that has been killed pretty much. Until we have a major airport then WV can not grow any bigger. Also combining Kanawha, putnam and cabell counties will be a major thing if you can talk the morons up in Charleston into doing it. Yeager has ruined this states future for big time business by fighting the regional airport that most people wanted. That would have made travel cheaper instead of going to Columbus. Morons! |
|||
|
|
||||
|
muBlade |
Huntington had its chance. | #7 | ||
|
Posts: 940 12/16/04 18:55:54 |
Quote: They had a chance to bring in 2-3K middle and upper middle-class jobs, along with $400 million minimum in revenues and over $100 million in tourism, which would equate to $20-30 million in tax revenues but they voted against it. Had they voted gaming in 3 years ago, Huntington would have had a state-of-the-art baseball stadium to house Marshall and a minor league team, another 2K minimum wage jobs and a tax surplus. Now Wise and the state of WV is going to legalize gaming and the counties up North are going to capitalize. Ohio, Marshall, Hardy and Lewis counties will approve it while Kanawha, Putnam, Cabell and Wayne will sit back on their heels. You'll still be able to take your kids into any business in town. Anywhere a minimum wage earner can afford.   |
|||
|
|
||||
|
SVHerd |
Re: Not to be negative but... | #8 | ||
|
Posts: 167 12/16/04 19:00:06 |
Let me first say I think Pullman looks and will be great. It is definately top notch. Shoot, as a kid I remember shopping in those stores they tore down.
Anyway, my biggest disappointment is the lack of retail stores that have been announced, so far it is eateries and the funny bone besides the theatre. They need something like Abercrombie and Fitch, Talbots, Banana Republic, even a Steve and Barry's. Something to keept he people shopping once thecopme to eat and see a flick or go to the comedy club. I was dumfounded when Vicki Shafer basically said in the HD a few weeks a go that they did not create Pullman to be a shopping area. How stupid is that mentality. Yea, its an entertainment district but unless retail is there, the novelty will wear thin quickly and people will go back top the mall to eat and shop. Heck, do you realize there is only one place within the city limits you can buy as pair of Levi jeans? the Workingmans store. That's sad. I hopefully look forward to full contingent of shops on Pullman and along 3rd Ave., how cool would that be, especially around this time of year. |
|||
|
|
||||
|
herdman |
Re: Not to be negative but... | #9 | ||
|
Posts: 485 12/16/04 19:53:15 |
Could it be because those stores don't want to locate there?
West Virginian by birth. Son of Marshall by the grace of God.
|
|||
|
|
||||
|
sturt |
Blade> Yeah you're right | #10 | ||
|
Posts: 482 12/16/04 20:08:32 |
WV needs more opportunities for the rich to get richer and the poor to get poorer... make that, the very poor to get very poorer.
The gaming industry is a panacea. But oh if Huntington had only a Teletrack (remember?)instead of a Pullman Square. Damn, at least they did something right. 
|
|||
|
|
||||
|
SVHerd |
Re: I heard the Super Block is open in Huntington.... | #11 | ||
|
Posts: 167 12/16/04 20:41:32 |
Could be. Maybe we will get a CVS, Dollar tree and consignment shop. How 'bout that.
Or maybe it's because of the persons running the show. |
|||
|
|
||||
|
Thunders1 |
Re: I heard the Super Block is open in Huntington.... | #12 | ||
|
Posts: 398 12/16/04 22:38:50 |
Read below. Sorry
|
|||
|
|
||||
|
Thunders1 |
Another screwup by the people of Huntington. | #13 | ||
|
Posts: 398 12/16/04 22:40:03 |
The city really screwed up not voting for the casino. We are in the Bible belt and have a huge population of older adults and those are the ones who turn out to vote and have a strong opinion towards gambling. There wasn't enough for the casino as there was opposition. The opposing people worked harder to come up with more things against it than did people who wanted it.
I don't buy the idea of crime in the city increasing because of a casino. If that were the case then Las Vagas would be the murder capital of the US!! That is a bunch of BS if you ask me!! Even if it did go up the revenue from the casino it would generate for the city would be more than enough to hire more police! That would have injected a huge shot in the arm to this area and surrounding areas. But the backward thinking mentality got us again just like it did 30 years ago with the Super Block. Someday it will happen and people will say "Gee, I wonder why it took so long for them to do this?!" The money generated would be insane! Another thing I think people thought would happen would be welfare cases and such down there wasting away their money but that would not have happened because you had to be staying in one of the downtown hotels to take advantage of the casino so that limits it to basically tourists and people with money around these parts which would have kept the hotels, businesses, and restaurants filled during all this! Man, can I run this city? We would be the best city in the state. |
|||
|
|
||||
|
GreenBison |
Re: Another screwup by the people of Huntington. | #14 | ||
|
Posts: 235 12/16/04 23:13:09 |
Maybe a casino would have worked, I don't know. But I think everyone is missing the point. We need high paying jobs, jobs with real benefits, jobs that you can have a career in.
What we don't need are jobs that just make money for the city and for the business owners. We need jobs that will inject cash flow for the PEOPLE of Huntington and the surrounding areas. It's like this, I still make the same amount of money whether or not Pullman Square is here or not. I now have even more places to eat out at, but I sure as heck am not going to eat out more because of that. I'm going to eat out as much as I normally do. Case in point. In Barboursville we now have a Lowes and a Home Depot (duplicate business). I don't spend more on home furnishings and such because of that. GIve us more purchasing power with a well paying job and we can support all of these duplicate businesses but until then you're just going to saturate the market. |
|||
|
|
||||
|
sturt |
House of cards | #15 | ||
|
Posts: 482 12/16/04 23:22:00 |
Quote: Says who? I think you're making this stuff up, Thunders1. The people who can least afford to play these money games are the very people who are most inclined to play them... they have a dream of lady luck delivering them from their misery... a desperate dream at times... it's why the WV Lottery remains so successful. Gaming is nothing but an end-around tax on the poor... it is an artificial industry, in that, there is nothing inherent to the product that makes it any more special in WV than it would be in southern Indiana than it would be at some Indian reservation than it would be in Reno or Vegas. It is a house of cards, pun intended. No. West Virginia's future is bright as the internet age makes it more and more possible for people to work from their homes, and as corporations reframe their "workplace" around the capacity for people to interact with each other electronically... places like Huntington and Charleston especially are going to become attractive and popular within the next 25 years for their relative peacefulness and proximity to outdoor activities. |
|||
|
|
||||
|
Thunders1 |
Re: I heard the Super Block is open in Huntington.... | #16 | ||
|
Posts: 398 12/16/04 23:25:44 |
I agree but in the mean time inject some cash in this area. I agree we need better high paying jobs and that will come but to what effect, who knows. I know that this Biotech industry could be huge for this city but we will not know for a while. If it goes like they think it will we could have Biotech companies moving here and that has been talked about and some companies are interested in doing that as long as our current tax system in this state doesn't screw them.
|
|||
|
|
||||
|
Thunders1 |
Re: I heard the Super Block is open in Huntington.... | #17 | ||
|
Posts: 398 12/16/04 23:34:40 |
I am not saying they can't afford to play the games but they cannot afford to stay in the hotels and also play the games all the time. The majority of people that would have been playing these games are not the poor but the semi wealthy, middle class and wealthy. I know I could not do it right now because I have no money. If I had money I would stay downtown and play occasionally.
Welfare people don't have that much money to stay at a nice hotel and play casino. Trust me, my wife works with this population of people and they would not go through that much effort to play black jack! Only if they could get in without staying at the hotel. And while those people are coming here to see the outdoors they can also hit the casinos at the end of the day! Makes sense to me. |
|||
|
|
||||
|
sturt |
Maybe your wife could tell you where these people live | #18 | ||
|
Posts: 482 12/16/04 23:46:42 |
Who needs a hotel when you live in Wayne... or New Boston... or Louisa... or all of the low-income areas within a 2-3 hour drive from Huntington?
|
|||
|
|
||||
|
mutosufan |
MU HOF Cafe? | #19 | ||
|
Posts: 20 12/17/04 06:20:04 |
Is it still open and how is it's business. How is the Huntington Mall doing?
|
|||
|
|
||||
|
gtrman4herd |
teletrack | #20 | ||
|
Posts: 44 12/17/04 06:30:54 |
They had a chance to bring in 2-3K middle and upper middle-class jobs, along with $400 million minimum in revenues and over $100 million in tourism, which would equate to $20-30 million in tax revenues but they voted against it.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> This same sort of thing was actually on the table over 20 years ago. There was talk of putting a Teletrack, mutual betting facility that brodacast horseraces and allowed betting on the races. It got shot down before it ever left the ground. I did a speech in a class at MU as a proponent of the facility. I sitll think it was a dumb thing to not put it in. There has been betting for year, there is always gonna be betting. Why NOT here. I don't buy any of the arguments against it, I have heard them all. With that being said, I am thrilled about the possibilities of Pullman Square. It will add a vibrance to downtown Huntington that hasn't been there for YEARS. Has anyone been to Easton Place in Columbus? the developers of Pullman are the same people. Easton started as a small eating and shopping area and is now a big complex of hotels, shops and oher entertainment opportunities. I am not suggesting that Pullman will ever match it, but a smaller version of that would be fine by me. |
|||
|
|
||||
img src>
img src> 
