A new, consolidated headquarters for the Murray Energy Corporation is open for business in St. Clairsville.

CEO Bob Murray said his brand-new, 66,000-square-foot consolidated headquarters was four years in the making, but Murray said if he knew then what he knew about the coal industry in the United States today, he would have never built the main headquarters in the first place.

Murray and staff started moving into the consolidated headquarters in late August. Since then, Murray Energy employees have been gradually filling the building, now fully staffed.

Murray said over the years, he could never afford a headquarters building. He noted, employees were scattered throughout four local counties in both Ohio and West Virginia.

Four years ago, Murray Energy decided they needed everyone under one roof, for both efficiency and cost-effective reasons.

But Murray said he wishes he would have known where the coal industry in the U.S. was headed back then. He said he already closed one mine, and next year, another will go to one-fifth of its current size.

Murray also said some major plans have been delayed. The corporation was planning to add jobs at the American Energy Century Mine, the productivity mine. Murray said it was decided just in the past week that those plans will now be infinitely delayed, affecting a staggering 7,200 jobs in eastern Ohio.

"I know the names of all of these folks that we've had to lay off, so no, I would never have built this building today. I don't need it. Our employment is going to be way down," Murray said.

Murray said the mine will be delayed until 2017, or longer.