Will there be a demand for 120 additional apartments in downtown Wheeling?
Many, including private developers and elected officials, believe so, and that is why the progress report concerning the tallest building in the city is considered positive news for the downtown district. Wheeling City Manager Bob Herron said the financing for the building owner and Coon Construction & Restoration has taken a most important, and necessary, step.
“As far as the project itself and its timing, that still depends on historic tax credits, and the financing structure all will be announced once everything is finalized, but yes, it does look good for the renovations to move forward,” explained Wheeling City Manager Bob Herron. “They are headed in the right direction on all of those things, and once the historic tax credits are approved, we’ll start seeing significant progress on that project.
“The big news, though, is that it has been represented to both the mayor, and I think the financing is in place,” he said. “That’s very exciting for this building because it’s a huge structure that is still savable within an economical range because it is still in good shape. The renovations will be extensive, but the owner and the developer believe that it can make money in the end.”
At this time, there are 77 apartments in the Boury Lofts and 16 in the Stone Center. People have moved in and out of the two complexes, but both have remained popular. The Schmulbach Building, the former home of the headquarters for Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel and several other companies, has been vacant since R-G Steel filed bankruptcy in 2013. Of the 12 floors, only two are ADA compliant and possess up-to-code fire suspension systems.
At the time the building was vacated, employees of R-G Steel left tons of paperwork, office materials, and furniture behind, and employees of Coon Construction worked for six months clearing the floors of the debris. The total cost of the project is $31 million.
“It would represent one of the biggest private sector projects concerning housing in the entire state,” Herron said. “And it would have a big impact on downtown Wheeling as far as foot traffic and the recruitment of new businesses in the area.
“The renovations are going to be challenging, but the company, Coon Restoration, has a great reputation concerning projects similar to this this one. Most of that has taken place in the state of Ohio, so we are confident that they are capable of this project, especially if they have the financing, and they do,” he continued. “We know they are capable of doing what needs to be done with that building for it to become a residential complex.”
Once the owner, a physician from the Columbus area, and Steve Coon, owner of the Coon Restoration, inform Herron that the historic tax credits have been approved, the city manager, Mayor Elliott, and Council will need to move forward with plans for a promised, new parking structure along the east side of Market Street.
“Right now, we are using a model similar to what we did to make the space for the Health Plan Headquarters, and that means we’ve assembled a few properties, but the biggest difference between those two processes is that these buildings on Market Street are in much better condition,” Herron explained. “So, there is some potential for re-development to take place in one of those two buildings, particularly the Chris Miller building.
“So, if the apartment complex project moves forward as it is currently proposed, the city has to address the issue of parking, and there is a distinct possibility that we would pursue a parking structure on the Chase Bank property,” he said. “That’s the goal and what we are looking into at this time. If that would pan out, there would be something new in the Chris Miller building, and then a parking structure, with between 300 and 350 parking spaces, would do from there and all the way to the corner.”
The topic of the proposed parking garage has been a conversation for more than a year, and initially it was proposed for property across the street from the Schmulbach Building. The location changed once Chris Miller Furniture and Chase Bank closed operations in 2018 and 2019, respectively.
“There’s work being done on that funding project, and we’ve had a meeting with our financing team in Charleston,” Herron said. “That financing team has assisted us with funding projects like our TIF projects, the water treatment plant, our wastewater improvements, and Wesbanco Arena. That’s the team that’s working with me with looking at what is possible in this case.
“Once the apartment project finalizes itself in the next few weeks, we’ll move forward with what we have to do for that parking garage,” he said. “Such a project will bring a lot more people to the downtown, and economic growth could take place because of it.”
