A soon-to-be-completed manufacturing space on a piece of property with a long history of jobs on Charleston’s East End will soon be ready for its next chapter but right now there’s no tenant for the new space.

The LIFT Center, a $20 million project made up of federal, state and local funds, will be completed in November. U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito got a look at the site Monday. It’s the former home of the Kanawha Manufacturing Plant that was built in 1910 and provided jobs, most related to the coal industry, for more than 100 years.

The new facility is 55,000 square feet on the eight-acre site that is bordered by Ruffner Ave. and Dixie Street. The original project was announced four years ago this week as part of $100 million of grants in West Virginia from the Biden administration to revitalize coalfield communities.

LIFT originally stood for “Learning, Innovation, Food & Technology.” The plans were to focus on healthy food production and green technologies with a skilled workforce but the scope of the project changed under the Trump administration’s Economic Development Administration. The focus is now finding a company focused on advanced manufacturing or the energy industry.

Capito said she wanted to get a look at the space so she can help.

“The big thing here is for me to see and try to help, how I can, to bring in a large employer into this area who hasn’t been here before who really can employ people on the East End and elsewhere,” Capito said.

The construction has resulted in 50 jobs. Capito said there’s a lot to like about the site.

“You can see it has rail access, truck access, there’s eight acres here. It’s about finding the right person, the right business, the right employer,” she said.

Charleston Area Alliance President and CEO Mara Boggs said they’ve brought several potential businesses to the site.

“We’re just trying to find somebody that will create a lot of jobs that will be a good community partner to this wonderful community of the East End and we’re going to find that perfect tenant,” a confident Boggs said.

The building is a shell that will allow the manufacturer to adjust the space to its needs.

Charleston Mayor Amy Shuler Goodwin said even though the original scope has changed she remains hopeful.

“Looking forward at what the parameters are, I feel very confident that somebody is going to take a look at this site. By the way, we’ve already had many folks take a look at this site and say this is where I want to be, but what’s most important to me is that the neighborhood and the neighbors in this community are really accepting of this project,” Goodwin said.

She said business recruitment isn’t for the faint of heart and larger sites offer an extra layer of difficulty but the LIFT Center is the type of development the city needs.

“Most important it’s going to fill out the piece of this neighborhood,” Goodwin said.

Boggs said Kanawha Manufacturing provided jobs at the site for 120 years and it’s only fitting the property continue to do so.

“This is our soul. This is West Virginia’s heritage here and that’s why I’m so excited about it,” Boggs said. “We can make it what’s next.”