Could East Wheeling Become the ‘East Village’ of Wheeling?

It’s a “vision,” and everyone knows how “visions” go.

Visions are all about potential and promise. Visions, when it comes to economic redevelopment, are make-believe mirages that someone believes they can make reality with the help of additional investors.

That someone, in fact, is Jay Johnson. He’s an East Wheeling native who worked in Pittsburgh and Chicago before moving home a little more than six years ago to open Attention to Detail on Wheeling Island. Johnson also has delved into real estate investment with properties along both 15^th Street and Grandview Street thus far.

He has organized a meeting for tomorrow at 12:30 p.m. on the lower level of the Macedonia Baptist Church on the corner of Eoff and 13^th streets so members of the East Wheeling community can discuss with him the redevelopment of the former Clay School structure and the transformation of properties along 14^th and 15^th streets in the historical neighborhood.

“What I am trying to do is bring people together so we can discuss the potential for development in East Wheeling, and I also want to inform the community what is happening right now in that neighborhood,” Johnson explained. “From what I see, I believe a lot of very positive things are happening in East Wheeling right now.

“I see a lot of people renovating properties, and I see some properties for sale and I see a lot of open lots, too,” he said. “So, this community meeting is meant to collect a lot of people so we can inform them on some things they may not know, and I’d love to get some feedback about what those residents would like to see in the future.”

The City’s Development Committee, according to City Manager Bob Herron, voted this past week to further consider redevelopment proposals for the former school building on the corner of 15^th and Woods street. Clay School was shuttered in 1992, and despite previous attempts to breathe new life into the large structure, the vacant building now is eroding at an accelerated pace.

The vacant structure sits across 15^th Street from the ultra-popular J.B. Chamber Athletic Complex that opened in 2013.

“If something is going to happen with it, it has to happen fast,” Johnson insisted. “If we can redevelop it, I know a lot of people would like to see some of things that’s we’ve lost in East Wheeling come back, like the Doc Horton Youth Center, the James Paige Learning Center, and the Elks Playground.

“For that building to just be sitting there with such a wonderful athletic facility sitting there across the street is ridiculous,” he said. “But if we can get a hold of it, I believe we can build a village around it.”

It Takes a Village

East Wheeling is one of the Friendly City’s oldest neighborhoods, but through the years the area changed for the worse.

At one time, East Wheeling was a “no-go zone” when it came to parents restricting their children from visiting the neighborhood after local law enforcement agencies deemed the area unsafe during the 1990s because of drug sales and violence.

“And I believe when most people hear about East Wheeling, they immediately think negative things about the area because of neighborhood’s past, and that’s really not fair to the people who live there now,” Johnson said. “I know for most people, the first couple of things they think about is crime and drugs, and that’s because East Wheeling hasn’t shaken that reputation for some reason. It puzzles me, it really does, because so many people have transformed East Wheeling into a great neighborhood.

“What we want to rebuild in an ‘East Village’ is a community where folks will really want to raise their children,” he explained. “The concept really is that simple and we want to communicate to the people who live there now so we can hear their thoughts, and their ideas during the Saturday meeting.”

“It takes a village to raise a child.”

That is an old-school proverb once readily accepted in all brands of neighborhoods for decades during the 20^th Century, but the practice has unfortunately fallen off because of a separation that’s taken place where personal privacy is concerned.

Johnson, however, believes the diagnosis can be medicated.

“It’s a trust issue that people have with people and for it to go away, I think we need to get to know each other again. Technology is great, but technology also has created something of a divide,” Johnson explained. “People no longer talk with each other. They text. People no longer meet in person. They Zoom or they Facetime.

“A lot of those things have gotten in the way of how we used to communicate in a neighborhood, and it’s sad to see the results that we have today,” he said. “People have been separated for a long time now, so our thought is that we promote more of that person-to-person communication to take place because if it does, that trust issue is going to diminish enough so that a village can help raise a child again.”

Johnson’s project is called “East Village Development,” and he real estate investment company is JAI Properties. The entrance to tomorrow’s community gathering at the Macedonia Baptist Church is located along Eoff Street, and Johnson hopes to attract all property owners of East Wheeling.

And yes, even the owners of the vacant and/or dilapidated parcels/structures.

“As far as those property owners are concerned, I think we really have to talk with them and ask them what it is they want. I would ask them what their vision is for their property’s future and if they would like to make it an even better future,” Johnson said. “I would tell those owners that we have a vision, so if they have one, too, I would attempt to find where those two visions can come together.

“I believe both visions can come true, and I believe it all gets started with that conversation,” he said. “Of course, no one force anyone to do anything with their properties, but we’re hoping that a meeting of their minds could help with progress.”