Boat manufacturer brings opportunity to Brooke County

BEECH BOTTOM -- A Seattle-based manufacturer of electric boats and boat engines is the latest company to choose to invest in the Tri-State Area.

Pure Watercraft, a direct-to-consumer provider of electric boats, announced its plans Wednesday to locate an operation into the Beech Bottom Industrial Park in Brooke County. The announcement was made by company and state officials during the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce's annual meeting and business summit at the Greenbrier Resort.

"It's wonderful. We're doing big things in this town," Beech Bottom Mayor Becky Uhlly said of the news.

Pure Watercraft plans to invest $5 million as part of renovations to an 80,000-square-foot area of the industrial park, which once served as the home of Wheeling Corrugating and is now managed by the Business Development Corp. of the Northern Panhandle.

The company will produce electric pontoon boats at the facility and anticipates the creation of approximately 100 jobs by the end of 2025.

"It's going to be an asset for the whole community to have good jobs coming to the area," Uhlly said.

Marvin Six, executive director of the BDC, explained the local economic development agency has been working closely with the West Virginia Department of Economic Development to attract the company to the area.

"Pure wanted to get into this market," Six said, noting the Beech Bottom site would not only provide access to the Ohio River, but also proximity to General Motors facilities in the eastern United States.

Pure Watercraft was founded in 2011, with General Motors purchasing a 25 percent stake in the company in 2021, according to reports from CNBC.

Andy Rebele, founder and chief executive officer, was on hand Wednesday to make the announcement, joined on stage by Gov. Jim Justice, Secretary of Economic Development Mitch Carmichael, U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and state Sen. Ryan Weld, R-Brooke.

"We're grateful to Justice, Carmichael and the West Virginia Legislature for their leadership as they support Pure Watercraft's efforts to build boats that are more enjoyable, accessible, and environmentally friendly than ever before," Rebele said.

Brooke County Commissioner A.J. Thomas noted the company's investment is one more indication of a rebuilding in the local economy, bringing new jobs to the area and showing the efforts toward diversification instead of relying on one or two businesses to provide employment and a tax base.

"We need to get to the point where one industry shutting down doesn't affect everything else," Thomas said. "I think there's a lot more to come."

Six reiterated this is the type of project the BDC was created to develop.

"We take a distressed piece of property that was in good use at one time," he said. "We take it from that distressed state, and do environmental and characteristic cleanup."