Lance Syner: Court and Stratton Developers

Lance Syner doesn’t like to be still. Standing at 6’2”, he seems taller, with a shock of red hair atop his head, he is at once gregarious and skittish, his body always in motion.

Relatively new to the area, Syner has made himself known to the local community, both through his family—wife Susan and their three young children—and also through his ambitious construction project in downtown Lewisburg. 

While downtown Lewisburg’s Washington Street has long been home to successful shops, galleries, and restaurants, its side streets have not always been successfully developed. On south Court Street, an entire block of buildings has gotten a new facelift after the Syners purchased and remodeled them. 

Thanks to the stringent zoning rules in Lewisburg, along with the strict guidelines of the Historic Landmarks Commission, it’s front-page news when a building downtown undergoes a renovation. The Court and Stratton project is fascinating both in its scale–the renovated spaces will house 11 businesses–but in its use of the alleyway that backs the buildings. 

With the new construction, Stratton Alley has been closed to traffic to make way for sidewalks and green spaces, giving the back sides of the buildings new life as storefronts. This fresh design creates more walking space in downtown. New and existing businesses line the sidewalks, providing shoppers and strollers with more spots to patronize.

“I grew up in Beckley and graduated high school at Fishburne Military School in Waynesboro, VA,” says Syner. “I’m definitely a tinkerer. I love all things mechanical and construction.”

After one year at WVU, Syner was back home in Beckley, waiting tables, when he met with a Marine Corps Recruiter. “He told me I could fly on helicopters as a crewman, and become a flight mechanic. It sounded great to me! I had no idea really that you could do that for a living and get paid,” he says.

After getting out of the Marines, Syner moved to Charleston, SC, for a job as a helicopter mechanic (along with doing a brief stint with Chevron Oil in Angola, Africa). He then opened his own company Boxell Aerospace, which provides airplane maintenance to regional airports in South Carolina and Georgia. 

Boxell was a success, but, as happens with so many of us, the mountains were calling Syner home.

“Charleston, S.C. is a lovely town but it’s very busy. One of the public high schools has over 4,000 students. My parents still live in Beckley, and we came to visit in July, 2016. We came to Lewisburg for lunch and sightseeing. Two weeks later we were moving,” he says.

“Once we moved, I quickly realized I had a skill set that didn’t apply here. We needed to create jobs for ourselves and we decided on real estate” 

“I’ve always been interested in improving things or modifying them. When I was small, I would take brand new toy cars and matchbox cars and immediately take them apart, soup them up and paint them. In the context of construction, the same thing applies,” he says. 

“It is critical that West Virginians invest in our communities, with as many as possible businesses and properties owned by West Virginians and financed with West Virginia-based banks. This keeps the profits circulating in West Virginia and is a re-investment engine,” says Syner. “That’s the end goal, to partner with business and tenants, help the community thrive, and then realize a return on investment, effectively providing gainful employment for ourselves and our team.”