919 5th Ave., Suite 100
Huntington, West Virginia 25701
(304) 523-4819

Dr. Bill Ratcliff and Dr. Chris Ratcliff Also Continue to Express Their Sincere Appreciation for the Support Received from the Firefighters and the Community Following the 2007 Fire that Destroyed Their Building.

Demolition has begun on Ratcliff Place, which has stood empty since its interior was destroyed in a fire in January 2007.

Drs. William and Dr. Chris Ratcliff will rebuild at the site. The new structure will have two stories and house the eye care business only.

It will be smaller than the current structure, which housed other businesses that rented space there. "It won't be as tall, but will be size-appropriate for that space," Chris Ratcliff said.

Ratcliff Place was destroyed in a January 2007 fire, forcing Tri-State Eyecare to move a few doors down to the new location -- at 919 5th Ave., Suite 100, on the second floor of the the Huntington Banks building, across from Jim's Steak and Spaghetti House -- where the doctors are still currently seeing patients.

Now the Ratcliffs have worked with the insurance company on a settlement, acquired additional parking they’d need to rebuild and obtained some cost estimates to decide whether to renovate what’s left or demolish the structure and start again. They’ve chosen the latter. But they’re looking at a new setup for Ratcliff Place this time. Rather than leasing space to tenants as they did before, the Ratcliffs hope to sell office space at Ratcliff Place as commercial condos of sorts.

In the meantime, the Ratcliff brothers have acquired more parking. They bought the lot behind Ratcliff Place from Johnson Memorial United Methodist Church, which voted this fall to sell it.

“They were concerned about selling property that they owned, but they came through with being good neighbors and doing what was necessary for us to move forward with this project,” William Ratcliff said. There’s nothing in the contract about whether church members can use the parking lot on Sundays, but the Ratcliffs don’t mind if they do, Chris Ratcliff said.

Speaking recently with Jean Tarbett Hardiman of the Herald-Dispatch, the brothers said the reason for the change is that it’s going to cost twice as much for the Ratcliffs to rebuild the structure this time around. According to West Virginia law, insurance companies don’t have to pay for the entire cost of rebuilding a structure destroyed by fire, only the face value, William Ratcliff said.

“We were interested in doing something positive for the town when we tackled the project almost 15 years ago,” William Ratcliff said. They hope with the start of the new year, the pieces will come together and the community will once again see signs of progress on that corner, he said.

Some people asked if they would leave the city, he said. And the answer is no.

“We want to stay in town and contribute to the town growing — and bring that corner back to life even more so,” he said.