The former Boll Furniture has been reborn, complete with new tenants and a new name. Now called The Equities House, the building is no longer home to furniture, but to the University of Charleston's graduate school of business and multiple private businesses hoping to bring wealth to West Virginia, said Henry Harmon, founder of Triana Energy, which occupies several floors in the building.
The export business will be housed on one half of the first floor, which is still incomplete. It's set to be finished Sept. 17, Harmon said.
The other half of the first floor, with the entrance facing Virginia Street, will be a grand lobby for business-related events, he said.
The third floor is home to more office and conference space for anticipated growth, Harmon said.
The fourth floor, Harmon said, is the core of Triana, housing the engineering, geophysical and land staff, he said.
Up one more floor is Triana's management services, the financial team that serves all of the company's business.
The sixth floor houses the executive offices of Triana and all of its companies, including Highlands Drilling, Appalachian Geophysical Services, The Equities House and Pinzon Investments.
The second floor houses the University of Charleston's graduate school of business.
"They will be teaching the next generation of business [people]," Harmon said. "Students will have a chance to view things from the inside."
Members of the Harmon business team, along with other local businesses, will serve as mentors to the students.
That mentorship will help encourage West Virginia natives to stick around, instead of looking for jobs elsewhere, Mike Harmon said.
"It's a long-term solution to the migration [of West Virginia's young professionals]," he added.
The businesses at The Equities House are just part of what Harmon and his business associates are doing in West Virginia. In 2007, a group of investors led by Harmon bought both Charles Ryan Associates and Gallagher/Goodwin-Gregg Communications Group, both advertising and public relations firms.
In total, all of the Harmon-involved businesses employ 350 people, he said. About 30 people work at The Equities House, Harmon said. Over time, the number will grow to 75 or 100.
"We have plans for fairly aggressive growth," Henry Harmon said. "Oil and natural gas is growing and doing well."
Reach Sarah K. Winn at sarahkw...@wvgazette.com or 348-5156.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- The former Boll Furniture has been reborn, complete with new tenants and a new name.
Now called The Equities House, the building is no longer home to furniture, but to the University of Charleston's graduate school of business and multiple private businesses hoping to bring wealth to West Virginia, said Henry Harmon, founder of Triana Energy, which occupies several floors in the building.
"At the core we are an oil and natural gas company," Harmon said, while sitting in the office of UC business school dean Charlie Ryan.
Harmon and other former executives of Columbia Natural Resources founded Triana Energy in 2001. Triana bought Columbia Natural Resources from NiSource Inc. in 2003 and sold it to Chesapeake Energy in 2005.
Since then, Harmon and other associates made their home in United Center, but the space had grown too small, Harmon said.
In September 2007, Doublet Enterprises Limited Liability Co., a company headed by Harmon and other investors, purchased the former Boll Furniture building for $1.2 million.
They moved on July 1 after months of renovations.
Harmon's son, Mike, spearheaded renovations on the 60,000-square-foot building. And while humble about the building's transformation, he's pleased about the work.
"We designed as we have gone along," Mike Harmon said. "I've never done it before. It's been exciting, though."
Along the way, the building's windows have been redone, floors retiled, new elevators added, and the fourth through sixth floors have undergone a complete build-out.
One of the most visible changes is the new walkway, connecting the building to the city's parking garage across Dickinson Street. Both Harmons said the walkway will help keep foot traffic out of the busy intersection.
The Equities House is actually two buildings, each more than 100 years old, Henry Harmon said.
During the renovations, contractors found old whisky bottles in the walls and a $5,000 check issued in 1934 from Clay County Bank.
An old safe from Noyes Thomas & Co., an original owner of the building, will be put on display, along with a grandfather clock purchased from Boll Furniture, Harmon said.
It's a way to remember what the building used to be, he said.
Along with the core oil and gas business of Triana and its partner companies, the floors of the building will house a new export and equity sales business, Harmon said, although he was mum on the business' exact nature.
The export business will be housed on one half of the first floor, which is still incomplete. It's set to be finished Sept. 17, Harmon said.
The other half of the first floor, with the entrance facing Virginia Street, will be a grand lobby for business-related events, he said.
The third floor is home to more office and conference space for anticipated growth, Harmon said.
The fourth floor, Harmon said, is the core of Triana, housing the engineering, geophysical and land staff, he said.
Up one more floor is Triana's management services, the financial team that serves all of the company's business.
The sixth floor houses the executive offices of Triana and all of its companies, including Highlands Drilling, Appalachian Geophysical Services, The Equities House and Pinzon Investments.
The second floor houses the University of Charleston's graduate school of business.
"They will be teaching the next generation of business [people]," Harmon said. "Students will have a chance to view things from the inside."
Members of the Harmon business team, along with other local businesses, will serve as mentors to the students.
That mentorship will help encourage West Virginia natives to stick around, instead of looking for jobs elsewhere, Mike Harmon said.
"It's a long-term solution to the migration [of West Virginia's young professionals]," he added.
The businesses at The Equities House are just part of what Harmon and his business associates are doing in West Virginia. In 2007, a group of investors led by Harmon bought both Charles Ryan Associates and Gallagher/Goodwin-Gregg Communications Group, both advertising and public relations firms.
In total, all of the Harmon-involved businesses employ 350 people, he said. About 30 people work at The Equities House, Harmon said. Over time, the number will grow to 75 or 100.
"We have plans for fairly aggressive growth," Henry Harmon said. "Oil and natural gas is growing and doing well."
Reach Sarah K. Winn at sarahkw...@wvgazette.com or 348-5156.
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