Moving to CHARLESTON Wv?? (Huntington, Pea Ridge: appointed, apartment, condos)

[tbailey1138]

For the malls, not that it really matters but:

From the Charleston Town Center's Website "West Virginia's exclusive shopping address, Charleston Town Center is a premier shopping and dining destination featuring over 130 specialty stores "

From the Huntington Mall "Shopping, Dining, and Entertainment! Over 150 reasons to visit the Huntington Mall Complex."

From the state of West Virginia's website "Huntington Mall
Barboursville, (304)733-0492 West Virginia's largest mall with five major department stores and more than 150 specialty shops."
West Virginia - Wild and Wonderful - West Virginia Travel, Recreation, Whitewater, Real Estate, Lodging, State Parks


And here's the article from Wikipedia "By area, the Huntington Mall is considered the largest shopping mall in West Virginia."
Huntington Mall - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Along Hal Greer there is a small furniture shop but that's it until you get to 3rd Avenue which is where Steel of WV is. All of the other factories are in the West end as mentioned before except ACF which assembles freight cars. ACF needs a paint job but otherwise is just an assembly plant. Huntington's economy could be better (as could the state as a whole) but it has seen a lot of positive growth in the medical field, through MU and is starting to see a lot of biotech start-ups. The new Marshall Institue for Interdisciplinary Research is expected to start up soon and bring more biotech, research and high paying jobs with it. Home rule also has a good chance to help WVs cities to be more properous and successful if it is allowed to pass and works as intended.

As most of us on here have said though, check these places out for yourself and see if they fit you.

Tim

[NOVAmtneer82]

It also says the words "citation needed" right after the claim about Huntington Mall being the largest in the state. The top of the page also specifically mentions that there are no references or citations for the entire article. Anyone can post stuff on Wikipedia, you or anybody else on here could get on the site right now and type that Barboursville has 100,000 residents and is by far the largest city in WV, wouldn't be true, but it can be done. There has to be a defined source for it to have any value.

Back to the point, I should have rephrased the words "by far the largest," and instead said that Charleston Town Center has a more attractive store base and APPEARS to be larger because it is 3 floors as opposed to Huntington malls maze like 1 floor layout. I grew up at the Town Center and having been to Huntington Mall as recently as Christmas it was blantantly obvious which one had a better store selection (although neither is that remarkable). It doesnt really matter how many stores the place has compared to actual store quality. Huntington Mall doesn't even have a Gap (it closed) or Abercrombie and Fitch and those are pretty basic retail establishments. By the looks of the Huntington Mall's website many of the stores they mention in the directory are not in the actual mall but in neighboring strip malls.

Town Center obviously needs work as it is ridiculous that it lacks basic higher level stores such as J. Crew and Banana Republic, or a nice quality department store like Nordstrom, all of which are everywhere in the DC area.

I'm not trying to rant, however I'm also not going to let certain people on here try and falsely portray Huntington as some cosmopolitan metropolis while implying that Charleston is a dirty chemically polluted wasteland that is run down, full of crime and lacks anything worth mentioning.

[tbailey1138]

Originally Posted by jfronz

I'm not trying to rant, however I'm also not going to let certain people on here try and falsely portray Huntington as some cosmopolitan metropolis while implying that Charleston is a dirty chemically polluted wasteland that is run down, full of crime and lacks anything worth mentioning.

Not trying to do that at all. The only reason that I said Huntington may be a better fit than Charleston for this particular poster is the youth culture. If you read my post, I actually said that Charleston was nice and never once mentioned that either city was dirty or run down. Never tried to claim that Huntington was more cosmopolitan either, I just said it had more live music offerings. The scary looking factory quote was taken directly from ettas post as I was trying to cover specifically what she was worried about. Having MU makes a big difference from the youth standpoint and the cities are close population wise and offering wise. That's all I was trying to and all I did say. I agree with you that the Town Center definately has a better atmosphere than the Huntington Mall, but the wikipedia article wasn't the only one referenced when it came to being larger. Even the official state website backed this up. And yes, the Circuit City, Best Buy, Michaels, Linens in Things, Toys R Us etc that are right beside the mall (not in strip malls) count toward this as they are part of the complex. Multiple sites back this statistic up which is why I put it on here. Otherwise I wouldn't have mentioned it.

[Silkdashocker]

If you do move to Charleston, just make sure you drive slow on the Fort Hill Bridge, or you will find yourself sliding out of controll on CNN.

[awakenthesun22]

Asheville, NC to Charleson WV? I personally wouldn't even think about it, Asheville is so much more lively than Charleston hands down. There's no way I'd leave Asheville for Charleston or Huntington-not that the WV cities are bad, but Asheville is just so much better and has so much more going for it. The culture in Huntington/Charleston doesn't even begin to compare to Asheville, not to mention the amount of outdoor activities that are right out your back door in Asheville wheras some of the same are a bit of a drive out of both Huntington and Charleston. For me, moving from Asheville to either one of the WV cities mentioned would be unthinkable-I wouldn't do it.

[Silkdashocker]

I've heard the same from other people who's experienced living in Asheville, NC. I will be visiting that area in two weeks with my wife, so it will be my first time down there.

[awakenthesun22]

I hope you have a good time, Silk. The landscape is gorgeous, and if you get a chance and you're interested, check out Mount Mitchell which is close to Asheville-it's the highest mountain peak east of the Mississippi river.

[etta]

Oh asheville, It is such a wonderful place to live REALLY. If only it wasn't nearly impossible to find affordable houses. Every house around here has been taken,every type of business has been opened twice or more. If renting for too much $ & service industry jobs or scraping by barely with art are ok....asheville is a great place to be. It is a very lively,fun,beautiful. This is a good place to live but Its just hard to grow here. We'd love to open a business & have a house thats larger that 600sq.ft. Asheville changes constantly & the cost of housing has nearly doubled in the 6 or so years we've been here. Many of the young artist types are moving away & being replaced with wealthy folks. We'd like to live somewhere where artists can afford to live & move there. Thankyou all for so much information! We'll put it to use in our search to find somewhere to relocate. WV is very pretty. Charleston is one of the most interesting little spots I've seen. Thomas may be too small but now I want to visit there just to visit. Morgontown might even be a little small but the school prolly helps fluctuate that. hmmm. Definitely going to visit huntington. We just want to stay in the south & nowhere completely flat. WV,virginia,tennesee,even georgia. I f anyone thinks of anywhere else in these parts that are fairly affordable & with even the seeds for a art/music scene we'd like to go visit.

[etta]

OH & silkdash if you need any restaurant suggestions 4 asheville just tell me what types of food you prefer & I'll make you a list. I've eaten everywhere in this town & I (atleast)think I know all the best deals. Mt.Mitchell is very cool but sometimes still closed this time of year due to snow at its high elevation. Sometimes its 70 degrees inAsheville & snowing @ mount mitchell. If you drive up that way(its north of a-ville on the blue ridge parkway) & hit a road block like i have before. Craggy gardens @ mile marker 364 is i nice alternative. Its AMAZING up there & 20 minutes away(craggy) 30 minutes away(Mount Mitchell-mile marker 355).

[GottaHerdOn]

Originally Posted by Silkdashocker

If you do move to Charleston, just make sure you drive slow on the Fort Hill Bridge, or you will find yourself sliding out of controll on CNN.

I admit, I found this humorous watching the cars spin around.

Brought back fond memories of being 16