Union Carbide donates land for new WVU research campus

Union Carbide Corp. agreed Monday to donate 58 acres of South Charleston property and several research and development laboratories to West Virginia University.

The new WVU Charleston Research Campus, located at the company's Technology Park, will focus on energy and chemical technology. Union Carbide is a subsidiary of The Dow Chemical Co.

The university will initially relocate its Charleston extension and extended learning offices to the new site, said WVU President David C. Hardesty Jr., who retires from that post on Sept. 1. The university will later develop programs to benefit residents of the Charleston area.

"Research is often associated with job growth and diversification," Hardesty said. "It is our hope that the creation of a research park by WVU in Charleston will draw jobs and dollars to the Greater Kanawha Valley and help to strengthen the overall economy of West Virginia."

Dow has been consolidating U.S. operations, and shifts in the global market have freed up assets in the Kanawha Valley, said Allan Fowler, vice president of Dow's West Virginia operations. The buildings and land are worth an estimated $25 million, he said.

Though the donation has long-term tax benefits to the company, the gain to the state is more significant, Fowler said. It gives WVU the chance to develop education and programs in a part of a state where it does not have a large presence.

"The alternative for us would be to demolish research buildings, and shame on us for demolishing research facilities," he said.