Now that the $1.64 million demolition of the Center Wheeling Parking Garage is coming to an end, city leaders are starting to discuss the potential development of the large parcel.
The cleared property rests near the corner of 22nd and Chapline streets, and the parcel stretches the block to Market Street. The headquarters for the Wheeling Fire Department operated in the garage’s basement for 47 years, and the four floors of parking decks were crowded daily with hospital employees and visitors.
A skywalk that spanned Chapline Street connected the garage with the West Tower on the Ohio Valley Medical Center campus.
“The parking garage opened back to (1976), and it was a popular place when OVMC was in operation, but there had been issues with it for more than a decade before now,” explained City Manager Bob Herron. “There was some parking that came from people going to Centre Market, but the bulk of the revenue came from everything connected to OVMC.
“When the hospital closed, the garage closed and the decision was made to bring it down,” he said. “The fire department’s headquarters had to move to temporary spaces since our new building in East Wheeling wasn’t ready yet. We’re hopeful that the project will be finished early in 2025.”
So, what’s next for the city’s property in Center Wheeling?
“Right now, the completion of the parking garage demolition in Center Wheeling is set for next week,” Herron reported. “There is some storm sewer work that still has to be subcontracted out, but most that was involved with the demolition will be finished and we’ll be ready to move forward with the property.
“We’ve compacted some of the material there on that site, and some of the materials went to the property on 19th Street to continue lifting that out of the flood plain there,” he said. “The material that was used at the Center Wheeling site helped to fill some holes because it was a below-grade parking structure for a lot of years.”
The City of Wheeling acquired the entire OVMC campus in June 2020 after inquiring only about the Ohio Valley Professional Center on Chapline Street. The owner, Medical Properties Trust, or MPT, offered the City an all-or-nothing deal, and now the campus is nearly clear of the seven structures that remained to make way for a new WVU Medicine cancer treatment and research center.
Crews with F.R. Beinke Wrecking Inc. of New Jersey now are moving earth on the four-acre property, and a small portion of the property still needs cleared.
The OV Professional Center, meanwhile, was renovated into the Wheeling Police headquarters and Herron believes a portion of the adjacent parcel could be used for a sally port.
“That is an idea we have for a small portion of that property,” Herron explained. “There will be some work on the building for doorways and other things, but we’ll have a booking area for our police officers. They’ll be able to just drive up and do what they need to do and then move their vehicle out on the deck.
“The sally port would only take up about 25 percent of the site, so there would be a lot of space left for other development,” the city manager said. “Of course, there are options for the property, and I think the police department may need some of it for storage of equipment, and there is a need for public parking if nothing else. But those are decisions that still need to be made, but right now, with the garage down, it’s really opened up that area.”
