Work is now officially underway on Massey Energy's planned Regional Headquarters in Boone County.

The location is an old strip mining site off of Corridor G that Southern Appalachian Coal closed 20 years ago.  A 51,000 square foot office building will eventually house 100 Massey employees there, consolidating existing offices in both Charleston and Chapmanville.

"We have a lot of people who live in Charleston, Teays Valley, even over toward Huntington. They can all get to this single location, so it was the right place for us," says Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship. He says the office is also closer to the company's mining operations in southern West Virginia and eastern Kentucky.

The Massey site is near the Hatfield-McCoy Trail Visitors Center and the Water Ways Water Park.

Boone County Community Development Director Larry Lodato says the county and the state worked together to pay for the 12-inch water line that is serving those sites. The water line will be extended to the Massey site by April or May, in time for the completion of the construction of the building.

"Our office first identified this property as the choice site in southern West Virginia for an industrial park that seems like it's been ten years ago," says Lodato.  He says dozens of companies have looked at the property since then, but only Massey has taken permanent steps to acquire it.

Boone County State Sen. Dr. Ron Stollings says Massey could inspire other companies to locate there. "This area is the next Teays Valley (Putnam County), if you will. From I-64 from Huntington to Charleston (Teays Valley), now you start thinking about Charleston south. We have room to grow, folks, and, if we use our resources wisely, we can grow and grow well," Stollings says.

Massey Energy is the largest private employer in Boone County.

"We're from here, and we live here, and we believe that we should invest here and participate in the communities," says Blankenship.

The Massey site is set to open in summer 2008. It will include office space, a cafeteria, a fitness center and walking track generating $120,000 in tax benefits for the county.