Mayor Elliott:
We wish to congratulate you and your colleagues on the announcement that the former Schmulbach Building will be repurposed into the Wheeling-Pitt Lofts. Twelve floors; 128 apartments; commercial businesses on the vast first floor; it’s a win-win for the downtown.
During the announcement, Mayor, Mr. Coon provoked Wheeling residents to contemplate the future and what amenities could return to the downtown. While most of us may no longer enjoy fast food, we do recall when McDonald’s closed on the corner of 12th and Market streets. That, sir, was a day of defeat for the people of Wheeling. The sky was falling on what we had known our entire lives, and it fell all right.
However, Mr. Maylor, you have helped bring new life to city’s lone skyscraper, and with the resurrection will come (hopefully) approximately 250 new people living in downtown Wheeling, and those folks are going to need stuff. We now live in a convenience- loving society, so new businesses within walking distance will be imperative.
That is why we have compiled a list of ideas for those private-sector operations along with a few suggestions you may or may not find helpful while you and your council navigate the two years it will take for Coon Restoration to mutate 144,00 square feet of office space into residential havens for tenants.
The Wish List:
- A grocery store similar to Riesbeck’s Value Fresh Foods version that operates in Shadyside, Ohio, with fair prices unlike those offered today at 7-Eleven, CVS, and the Public Market.
- An old-school five-and-dime variety store with everything from clothing to car oil, and if there was a lunch counter?
- A second location for Milkas Meat Market because the Rotriga family are the best in the history of anything being the best.
- A gas station on the corner of 10th and Market streets on the same land you, and your Council initially proposed for a new public safety building. With the city-funded parking garage planned a block away, the eliminated spaces could be replaced, and the business could offer access from Chapline Street, as well.
The Suggestion Box:
- An addition to the city’s Façade Improvement Program to include improvements to the interior infrastructure of the older buildings that are not up to current building codes and ADA compliancy.
- A renewed police patrol for Heritage Trail and Heritage Port and an ordinance that bans homeless encampments along the trails and near the riverfront park to offer our new neighbors a sense of safety and security.
- When it comes to new restaurants, one person may want Indian while another will lobby for Polish, and that’s why we recommend you create a new ad-hoc committee comprised of food service professionals, including the owners of our current downtown eateries, culinary experts from West Virginia Northern Community College, and the owners of our area’s leading catering companies. That’s because those folks will know what could work in the long run, and that insight will allow you and others with the city to narrow the focus when recruiting begins.
Of course, we realize several of these new business ideas would require variance approvals because of the city’s current two-story mandate for construction in downtown Wheeling, but those decisions are made by volunteers with the city’s best interests in mind.
And please know, Mayor Elliott, there would have been several more suggestions if the streetscape project were not scheduled for later this year because the sidewalks and curbs are disgustingly ugly, and there’s more turbulence riding along Main and Market right now than flying at 30,000 feet through a storm. But hey, 2021 is the year for that project to finally begin, too.
Sincerely,
Anxious Wheeling Residents
