Welch seeks bids to replace four HVAC units at Pocahontas Theatre

Welch was seeking sealed bids to replace four HVAC units at the Pocahontas Theatre, 60 McDowell Street, in a project spelled out in unusual detail. The city wants one 15-ton Trane gas-electric rooftop unit, two 12.5-ton Trane units with curb adapters, and one 25-ton Trane unit, each with fresh-air bypass, economizer parts and discharge-air sensor tube kit equipment. Labor is part of the job. Bids were due by 3 p.m. Friday, April 24, and the city said late submissions would not be considered. The bids will be opened publicly at 3 p.m. Monday, April 27.

The notice matters because Pocahontas Theatre still says it is temporarily closed, even as Welch keeps working to make the building ready for public use. For a downtown venue, HVAC is not just a maintenance item. It is what allows audiences to sit through a film in comfort, gives renters and event planners a usable space, and helps keep a landmark active instead of dark on McDowell Street. Welch describes itself as a coal mining community in the Appalachian Mountains, and buildings like this remain tied to the city’s downtown life and foot traffic.

The theatre has carried that role for nearly a century. It opened on Dec. 25, 1928, cost $100,000 to build, seated 1,264 people and originally featured a Wurlitzer pipe organ valued at $20,000. In June 2023, the original 1928 organ was dedicated after Jason Grubb, a McDowell County native and former City of Welch employee, found it in Missouri in 2021 and helped bring it back home.

Robin Lee, the city clerk, listed the bid paperwork from City Hall at 88 Howard Street and gave contractors a direct contact number, 304-436-6185, along with robin@cityofwelch.com. The city also said it reserves the right to reject all bids and ask for new ones under West Virginia Code § 5-22-1(e), then open the responses publicly under § 5-22-2(a). For Welch, the HVAC project is a plain test of whether the city is investing enough to keep one of its best-known downtown buildings usable, or leaving the Pocahontas Theatre stuck closed while the rest of McDowell County waits.