After years of planning, demolition at the former TS&T Pottery site in Hancock County is nearly complete.


As of Thursday, most of the site -- which was a major eyesore for residents -- was gone.


Marvin Six, Business Development Corp. assistant director, said, "We've torn down 75 percent of the structure that was here and taking 90 percent of the asbestos materials away from the site."


Since May, the BDC has been working to close the last funding gap. Recently, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency awarded the BDC a $200,000 grant to help.


Pat Ford, BDC executive director, said, "Of all the applicants from the state of West Virginia, Business Development Corporation and our particular project was actually the only recipient of the remediation grant in the state, so we are really excited."


The group will officially receive the EPA grant check on July 11 in Philadelphia. That will bring the total amount of grants to about $1 million from local, state and federal agencies and foundations.

Ford said the EPA grant will help contractors fix up the river bank near the site. Once it's leveled, the focus will shift to what will be built there, and oil and gas industry businesses are a strong contender.

BDC officials said nothing is concrete in terms of development.

Six said, "We want to be conscious to the community and the location of the site, so we're going to be looking at light manufacturing to that or other types of related industries."

A group with West Virginia University will help finalize the layout with the community input before any construction begins. The BDC is entertaining options from interested companies until WVU helps them finalize a layout plan in the coming months.

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