As the city looks to 2008 and beyond, projects that tie existing attractions with economic development are on the radar.

"If you heavily invest with public improvements, then the private investment will follow. And then we did several incentives to make that happen," said Susie Salisbury, with the Charleston Area Alliance.

The Charleston Town Center mall located in downtown Charleston in the late '70s, and the Alliance's forerunner, the former Charleston Renaissance Corp. formed in the early 1980s to keep an eye on downtown development.

Salisbury said she looks at redevelopment much like a game of chess -- something that needs strategic planning.

"There was a study done that said you need to look at anchors," she said. "You've got your western anchor with the mall ... your southern anchor needs to be the redevelopment of the riverfront, the northern end was the farmers' market, and the eastern end was ... the Clay Center.

'Look At All These Gems'

Salisbury said the redevelopment focus now is an effort to connect the downtown dots.

"Now it's probably time for us to look at all these gems, and we've begun to string some of them together," she said. "If those projects are out there brewing, how can we really leverage those?"

One agency that plays a part in redevelopment is the Charleston Urban Renewal Authority, which the state Legislature created in the 1950s.

"We work now with the Charleston Area Alliance, the city engineering department, different city departments," Executive Director Pat Brown said. "We do buy land that is blighted, if you will, and we also have property available for redevelopment."

Brown said the Authority's mission is two fold.

"One is to get rid of eyesores and, two, to provide land," he said. "We usually put signs on our property. We get direct calls, referrals from the Alliance as well as the city, and we all work together."

The Authority is unique because it is the state's only agency that can use eminent domain for private redevelopment.

"We don't use it very often, but we do use it," Brown said. "There is an extensive procedure, and we certainly don't want to abuse it."

Health Department Ponders Move

The Kanawha-Charleston Health Department is looking to the public to help decide whether and where to move.

"The initial idea came basically from the (Kanawha) County Commission and from Mayor (Danny) Jones," said Health Department Executive Director Dr. Kerry Gateley.

"They suggested to the Board of Health they might be able to create an opportunity for a commercial property here that would augment the Civic Center ... and the question was raised as to whether we would be willing to move the Health Department somewhere else to make way for that.

"We are giving that proposal very serious consideration, but really whether or not we move depends entirely on what alternative plans we can make."

Gateley said the Health Department, in his view, isn't a building but people, programs and services. However, he's not an architect, and relocating would be a major project.

"We're part of the community," he said. "We want the community to prosper.

"The commissioners have publicly stated that if we can't come to some sort of arrangement that is satisfactory to everyone, all the Board of Health needs to do is say no, so in that spirit of cooperation we've continued to investigate."

He said the public response on the Health Department's Web site has included property suggestions and developers offering to fit property to the Department's needs. Gateley said his goal is to provide the board with two or three site suggestions, and the County Commission has offered to give the Board the proceeds from sale of the current site.

Library Looks to New Site

As the ornate libraries funded by Andrew Carnegie in the early 20th century fall behind technological evolution, libraries nationwide are receiving facelifts, according to Tom Heywood, president of The Library Foundation of Kanawha County Inc.

The Kanawha County Library plans to build a new library a few blocks east of its current site on Capitol Street.

Heywood said the new neighborhood has expressed excitement for the library's move -- even Huntington Bank, which will lose part of its drive-through.

"Because of the anchoring effect on that end of town, this will really create vibrant growth on that block, and it will link the downtown to the east end," he said. "If you think about it, really, a main entry to Charleston is Leon Sullivan Way.

"No matter which street you turn down, you will be in a great community."

Heywood said each community has a different rhythm and pace, and other cities in West Virginia are working on redevelopment, but Charleston has been fortunate to have the successful Urban Renewal Authority.

"It's not just ... keeping appearances up," he said. "I think it's far more than that. Preserving the past is an important part of our success, but also imagining the future we could have."

Charleston for Conventions

Jones said the city needs to make the Civic Center bigger and better with a new hotel that may become reality within the next year.

Other projects may follow.

"We have money in our CVB war chest, part of which may go for an airline," Jones said. "There's an airline looking to start up here and make Charleston kind of a hub. I don't know if it's going to work or not, but the CVB has half a million to put into that if it goes forward.

"We also have money we're putting out to groups that are willing to come here. That's what other cities have been doing for years, and now we are able to do it."

Jones said redevelopment has worked well for the city lately.

"The Clay Center -- I remember when they sold cars over there," he said.

He also cited development of Appalachian Power Park, home of the West Virginia Power South Atlantic League team.

"When I was running for mayor in 2003, we did some polling, and 74 percent of the people were opposed, but now you'd be hard pressed to find too many people who would say they were opposed to having baseball in Charleston," Jones said.

The mayor also said the city expects to receive federal money to pay for construction of a retractable roof over Haddad Riverfront Park along the Kanawha River.