The Highlands Welcomes Three New Tenants
Joselyn King Trending
Ohio County Development Authority members Tuesday night welcomed three new tenants to The Highlands.
Members convened for their last meeting of the year at The Highlands Event Center.
Rally House West Virginia is already open for business in the Power Center area at the Development. The new store is a national retailer of sports-related apparel and merchandise,including officially licensed West Virginia University Mountaineers merchandise.
Play It Again Sports, previously located in Elm Grove, also has opened within the Power Center. It offers sports gear and equipment for exercise and fitness.
And by the end of January, Longhorn Steak House expects to open in the former Logan's Roadhouse location at The Highlands.
It's the busiest time of the year at The Highlands, and County Administrator Randy Russell told board members now was the ideal time to do a traffic study at the development.
The traffic study is taking place today through Sunday by HGR and will cost $36,921, he added.
"We would like to have a new study done, and our hope is to get one done this peak season," Russell said. "In addition, we would like to do it while the Sports Complex has a nice event going on and show how traffic is flowing during this busiest time of year.
"We will circle back in the spring, maybe the summer to get a regular flow.
Russell said HGR has done past traffic studies at The Highlands, with the last being done in 2019 prior to the COVID pandemic. An analysis of the data should be provided in two months, according to Russell, and the information will be used by the OCDA as it plans for a second interchange at The Highlands.
"It will give us a feel about what is going on with the Sports Complex, as well as other places," Russell said.
It will measure what percentage of people are driving to what areas of the development, he continued. Often potential tenants ask for this information, according to Russell.
OCDA members also discussed the sign on the JCPenney department store, and why only its "P" is presently lit.
Brian Taylor, operations manager for The Highlands, explained it is the tenant's responsibility to maintain signs on their building, while the OCDA takes care of the "monument" type signs that sit away from the store.