DAVID AND RICK BIAFORA have moved more dirt in Morgantown than most other real estate developers. They’re the pair behind Suncrest Towne Centre and Pierpont Properties, which own and operate more than 25 apartment and townhome complexes under the Metro Properties umbrella and which are currently working on transformational plans for a mixed-use development near downtown. Together they own almost 2 million square feet of office and retail space in Morgantown and beyond. The Biafora brothers were born and raised in Morgantown and wouldn’t live anywhere else, they say. Their motivation to keep building and renovating comes from a desire to create nice things for the community. “We travel, and we see things in other states and around the country that we’d like to see here. We come home, and we try to make it happen,” David Biafora says. The Biaforas are now busy envisioning the best use for 10 acres on Richwood Avenue that will include shops, public spaces connected with the rail-trail, residential and office space, incubator space, and more, all walkable to downtown. DAVID AND RICK BIAFORA
TOM BLOOM
If TOM BLOOM had a Hollywood stage name, it would probably be “Mr. Morgantown.” Bloom is everywhere, involved in almost everything, and he’s been that way since moving to Morgantown from Philadelphia more than 40 years ago. Bloom got his start in politics on the Morgantown City Council and served there for 14 years before moving to the Mon County Commission, on which he still serves. With countless community partners, he’s made big things happen: from the Morgantown Area Youth Services Project, his first passion project in the 1970s, to recycling programs, homelessness initiatives, strategies to grow tourism and economic development, the Pantry Plus More to address food insecurity, and so much more. He chalks all of this progress and success up to collaboration and partnership. “No matter what I’ve done, it’s a shared effort. I couldn’t move my wild ideas without other people in this community helping me make them happen. It’s all about working together, making partnerships, and finding others who want to be part of the solution.”
62 MORGANTOWN FALL 2021
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