Caperton Office suites are filled
By John McVey / Journal staff writer
POSTED: April 20, 2009
MARTINSBURG - The City of Martinsburg has filled the Caperton Office Suites with tenants.
The final tenant is the Charleston-based law firm Pullin, Fowler, Flanagan, Brown and Poe, PLLC, City Manager Mark Baldwin said.
The firm will lease the fifth floor. It will move in June 1.
Jeff Molenda, resident member, said the firm looked at several locations in Martinsburg before deciding on the Caperton Office Suites on East Martin Street.
"It's a neat place," Molenda said in a telephone interview Friday. "We knew we wanted to go into the city limits to make a commitment to the city. We wanted to make a commitment to the historic downtown. The station is the right combination of size and availability."
Pullin, Fowler, Flanagan, Brown and Poe also has offices in Morgantown and Beckley, he said.
The firm is expanding to Martinsburg because it was getting a lot of clients in this area and it became economically feasible to open an office here rather than send someone from Morgantown, Charleston or Beckley to Martinsburg, Molenda said.
The firm has a tradition of adaptive reuse of historic buildings, he said.
The firm's home office in downtown Charleston is a restored circa 1890s office building, according to the firm's Web site. The facade was returned to its original appearance, while the inside work space was renovated with the latest technology and a family-friendly atmosphere for employees, according to the site.
The firm will provide counseling and litigation defense to cities, counties and public agencies in the areas of personal injury defense, Freedom of Information Act and Open Meetings questions, water and sewer damage, property damage and employment claims and suits, Molenda said.
In addition, the firm will provide insurance defense, counseling and coverage opinions to insurers and the insured in personal lines of insurance, including automobile and homeowners, underinsured motorists and uninsured motorist claims as well as commercial insurance cases, he said.
Molenda expects the Martinsburg office will have three to five attorneys eventually.
Current tenants include the Washington Heritage Trail Association, which operates a visitors center on the first floor, CASA, Eastern Panhandle Safe Community, which is moving from the fifth floor to the third floor, Eastern West Virginia Community Foundation and West Virginia Housing Development Fund.
The Caperton Train Station was originally built in 1849 as a hotel to accommodate train travelers. A National Historic Landmark, it is the oldest continuously running train station in the United States.
- Staff writer John McVey can be reached at (304) 263-3381, ext. 128, or jmcvey@journal-news.net
