New South Square is breathing new life into an entire city block in this small community.
There’s a new buzz on Main Street in Granville, and, if you haven’t been through in a while, you’ll soon have plenty of reasons to. Adjacent to City Hall, there’s a new space called New South Square. The Square is a warehouse redevelopment project by a new company created by Michael Mills and Nikki Bowman Mills called Revision LLC. Visit the new space on May 11 during a ribbon cutting ceremony with the Morgantown Area Partnership.
One of the buildings—formerly Office Shoppers Paradise—was renovated first as the headquarters for New South Media, the publisher of Morgantown, WV Living, WV Weddings, and Wonderful West Virginia magazines and dozens of custom publications. It’s also home to Narrative by New South, a boutique custom content development agency.
A second building will house Appalachian Mercantile Morgantown. Nancy Bruns—one of the founders of J.Q. Dickinson Salt-Works in Charleston—and partner Joe Woods are creating a space that Woods describes as “Appalachian AF.” The pair plan to open the doors on June 1 and will use the space to shine a light on the very best Appalachian products. You’ll find local cheese and charcuterie, grab-and-go prepared foods, crafts, homegoods, art, an Appalachian-inspired cafe, and so much more.
“Granville is a cool little town,” Woods says. “We see this as a great opportunity to get in on the ground floor of upward movement in this town. This space really granted us the opportunity to make it our own in a cool old building, and the vision for this Square is something we really wanted to be a part of.”
Later this summer, visitors will also find The Silo in the Square. This unique event space will offer a rustic-meets-industrial feel, the perfect spot to host micro-weddings, elopements, events, and more. Also scheduled to open later this summer is Appalachian Salvage, which will quickly become the go-to spot in the region for architectural salvage materials. All of the buildings open onto a central courtyard.
Nikki Bowman Mills works with her husband, Michael, to continue bringing New South Square to life. She’s no stranger to cheering on struggling towns, having created an initiative called Turn This Town Around in 2014. Pushing economic development initiatives throughout the state is her passion, and she considers Revision’s work in Granville a living laboratory. It’s also a way, she says, to show that average people willing to put in sweat equity can contribute to their communities in big ways.
“I like the appeal of being on Main Street because so much of what we do every day is championing communities. Besides, where in Morgantown can you find a city block of flat land with this proximity to downtown and this close to the interstate?” Bowman Mills says. “And to top it all off, Granville is an authentic town with authentic people that has the capacity to become a modern-day Mayberry.”
Leave a Reply