White Oaks Development in Bridgeport, West Virginia: One of state's most prominent business parks

“White Oaks has been very popular out there attracting businesses, a lot of them from Clarksburg, but it’s been very business friendly and they have some fairly large businesses that have relocated out at White Oaks. ... They’re not so residential, but they’re starting to grow the residential side as well,” said Brian Newton, Bridgeport city manager.

“White Oaks hit the ground running, I would say, when their development started, and they have done a fantastic job marketing their property and bringing businesses to the city, relocating some businesses and really filling up all of their empty space here recently. ... They have a few lots left, but it’s very minimal,” said Andrea Kerr, Bridgeport’s community development director.

White Oaks is filled with restaurants, business offices, medical facilities and lodging, with various retailers scattered throughout the park, which all benefit from the workers who frequent the area.

Being the closest business cluster for the FBI’s Criminal Justice Information Services Division, and major corporate headquarters for Antero Resources, Thrasher Engineering and Steptoe & Johnson to name a few, make White Oaks a perfectly placed hub for commerce.

Of course, one of the largest drivers for White Oaks is the WVU Medicine United Hospital Center, which is still the generator of much of the business park’s traffic and employment.

The addition of the hospital helped bring in new talent to the area, officials said, and that was the premise of new construction being appealing to professionals.

“This older doctor one time, I asked him the question about whether we should build a new hospital or refurbish the old hospital. This is when the hospital was over in Clarksburg years and years ago, and he said new doctors want new hospitals,” said Andy Lang, Bridgeport mayor.

“I’ve learned to appreciate the old stuff, but sometimes there are people out there who just need new stuff, whether that’s new office buildings or new motels or new restaurants or new places to do business,” Lang said. “It’s a really good strategic location because the hospital is just going to keep growing right there.”

Perhaps the best sign for future success at White Oaks is the potential for growth thanks to an abundance of room and continued momentum.

“White Oaks is a very important part of our community because there’s a lot of businesses there, a lot of service. Then you take Thrasher and Steptoe & Johnson and Antero and many of those companies, those are really good companies that have their base services right there. We’re really lucky to have them,” Lang said.

“The biggest thing about White Oaks is that they still have room to grow. So many of these developments are built on a small scale. They’ve got maybe a pad or two and access, and that’s all. Once they get built, that’s the end of that. But they still have lots of available land,” he said.

One particular expansion that’s in the works for White Oaks and has been drawing some excitement is the relocation of Jenkins Hyundai Subaru.

“I think everyone is aware now that Jenkins Hyundai Subaru has made the announcement that they were going to be moving their facility from Lodgeville Road out to White Oaks. So if you drive down Interstate 79, you can see the clearing and the frontage that they’re going to have on 79. I think that’s going to be a huge addition to White Oaks,” Kerr said.

This move will be huge for the dealership, according to General Manager Matt Jenkins.

“You don’t see a lot of dealerships that are dual franchised the same way as you’d see a gas station with a Dunkin’ Donuts in it. You don’t see that with dealerships anymore just because everything’s bigger. And Hyundai is Korean, and Subaru is Japanese and they really don’t want to be in the same building to begin with. ... What it comes down to is we’re just out of space,” Jenkins said.

“We have plenty of room to park cars at the bottom lot that we bought a couple years ago, but the building is essentially landlocked. The back side is a creek, the front side is a ravine, the left side is another dealership and then there’s a drop-off. So we can’t really add on,” Jenkins said.

In addition to giving them room to expand, the increased space for facilities will allow the day-to-day operations to be much smoother and keep separate buildings for the Subaru and Hyundai vehicles.

“I’m looking forward to being off the interstate, which we are now, but the big thing is having two buildings that actually flow,” Jenkins said.

“It’s going to be nice to be able to have that flow. Everything is in this particular spot for customer satisfaction and also for employees to be able to do their jobs,” Jenkins said.

Since sales have more than doubled since 2014, it’s been difficult to service the demand. Jenkins believes that by moving to White Oaks, there will be more parking and more room in general, lending to better service.

Plus White Oaks had the unique offering of the kind of land they needed.

“Being able to find almost 14 acres of flat land off the interstate is almost impossible,” Jenkins said, stating that he hopes to break ground on the new site sometime in 2025.

Other upcoming developments include Antero remodeling and expansion of residential capacity in the area.

“They’re going to be adding their residential lots here in the upcoming year,” Kerr said.

Bridgeport officials also appreciate White Oaks for working well and partnering with the city for mutual success.

“I think that White Oaks has been a great partner with the city and we’ve worked hand in hand as far as construction, approval term planning and zoning and it’s all just worked really well together,” Kerr said.