To acquire the structure where the new Wheeling Police Headquarters will open in the next few months, city leaders had to agree to take possession of the other 770,000 square feet of building space on the former Ohio Valley Medical Center campus.
When City Manager Bob Herron initially reached out to attorneys with the Medical Property Trust (MPT), now the former owner of the OVMC property, he only wanted to inquire about the Ohio Valley Professional Center. It is a three-story, 30,000-square-foot office building, and Councilman Dave Palmer thought it might make for a good police headquarters in a centralized location.
But it was an all-or-nothing offer from MPT, and in June 2020, Council voted 6-0 to approve the deal. No matter what takes place across the street on the former campus of the Ohio Valley Medical Center, the Friendly City’s police department will have its first new headquarters since 1959 in Center Wheeling.
“When the courthouse area became the police department, the 4,500 square feet were enough for the staffing they had back then, but the need grew over the years,” Herron explained. “That’s not the case anymore and this new headquarters has been needed since I came to Wheeling 20 years ago.”
The $6.5 million renovation project is funded by bond sales supported by the city’s User Fee, the $2 service fee all employees of Wheeling-based businesses pay on a weekly basis. Six bids were received, and the Waller Corporation entered the low, $6.5 million bid.
“The police chief (Shawn Schwertfeger) assembled a building committee with officers of different ranks, and it was them who put a lot of thought into what the building should have inside of it,” Herron explained. “One of the biggest reasons the building was attractive to us was because, the way it was constructed, we could remove all of the walls without worry that some of them were weight bearing. That hasn’t been an issue and that has allowed the interior to really become what it needs to be as a police headquarters.
“So, we gutted the building and started over,” he said. “And every bit of it is laid out perfectly for what they need and what they have needed for a lot of years. Instead of trying to make it all work in the 4,500 square feet they’ve had since the 1950s, this facility will allow them to operate as a police department in the 21st Century, and we’re excited about that.”
OK with Delays
Blame the pandemic. Blame an eroded American work ethic.
Blame the delays on whatever, Herron is OK with the two-and-a-half month scheduling setback because, as he says, “It could have been much worse than what it is.
“Even though we have run into some supply chain issues, the construction on the inside and outside of the new police headquarters has been progressing,” Herron reported. “The air conditioning for the building has been an issue and that hasn’t allowed us to cool things down enough on the inside to perform some tasks that need to get done.
“The other issues we’ve had recently has been the delivery of some of the doors for the building, but we’ll be able to open and start using the new headquarters without the doors that have yet to get here,” he said. “It’s going to be a wonderful new facility, and I couldn’t be happier with the designers and the engineers because of how smoothly everything has gone since the beginning.”
Also in the works is a new $9 million, 24,860-square-foot fire headquarters. The station will be the first new HQ for the fire department since it moved into the Center Wheeling Parking Garage in 1978.
The facility is scheduled for a December 2023 opening.
“The pad for the new fire headquarters has been constructed, and right now we’re waiting for AEP to move a few power poles for us so we can continue with the next step for the new fire headquarters,” Herron said. “Right now, that project is scheduled for completion late year, and we’re anxious for it because it’s so long overdue.
“The construction of the building, even with the adjustments that have been made, is still in line with our original budget. We’ve stabilized where they are now and they are safe and sound, but we are looking forward to getting them out of the ground floor of the Center Wheeling Parking Garage because the structure needs to be demolished.”
