By POLITICO Staff WriterWILMINGTON, West Virginia (AP) A new wave of U.A.E. super-high-rises has begun in the coal country that President Donald Trump has promised to revive.
The president announced Thursday that his administration is buying the first of the new homes and is expected to build more than 2,500 by the end of 2021.
West Virginia has become a key hub for the construction industry.
Trump’s plans for building more than 4,000 high-rises in West Virginias Appalachian mountains are part of a larger strategy to expand his domestic footprint.
He has sought to capitalize on a boom in natural gas that has helped make the region a major manufacturing center, and he is proposing to build the first U.N. climate change-friendly super-rich community in the state.
The U.K.-based developer that is building the new West Virginia houses is building them in West Potomac and Western Coal mines.
It is the second project to get federal approval in the past two years.
The projects, part of the $50 billion American Reinvestment Act, will add more than 1,000 jobs in the Appalachian region, said Bill Gershman, vice president of development at West Potamac Properties.
Gershmen said the first homes are expected to be ready for use in 2021.
The construction project also includes a hotel, a shopping mall, office space and apartments.
The developer is expected provide $50 million in tax credits to help offset the construction costs.
Trump has promised the U.B.E.-based company to build new houses in Appalachia to compete with countries like Germany, which has built more than 3,500 such homes.
The president has also made building U.W.O.s an issue in his presidential campaign.
The new homes will be built by the American Reinventing West Virginia Group, which Trump is promoting as the leader in high-rise housing development in Appalachias region.
The group is backed by real estate giant and Trump backer Anbang Insurance Group.AAPR has built the first 1,100-foot tall buildings on two properties in West Pennsylvania.
They include the $60 million West Pennsylvania Homes in the Coal Belt development.
The company also has plans to build a new $200 million West Virginia super-super-high rise in Pennsylvania, the company said in a statement.APR owns two other properties in Western Coal, one in the town of West Virginia City and the other in the county of Western Mount Carmel.