When the small, two-story McDonald’s closed in downtown Wheeling 25 years ago, it felt like the final death nail for many of the city’s residents.
Many retailers had already surrendered along Main and Market streets, and the future of Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel was in doubt after a lengthy strike the same year. The closing ended the double-decker cheeseburger battle between the Big Mac and the Big Boy on the corner of 12th and Market streets.
The rivalry between McDonald’s and Elby’s didn’t end there, either, with constant comparisons of the French fries and the fish sandwiches while the two eateries sat on the same intersection as Thom McAn and a thriving McLure House Hotel. The Vagabond Kitchen operates these days where the shoes were sold, the street level of the Laconia Building is now office space, the McLure is for sale for $8.5 million, and UniGlobe Travel and Undo’s Catering currently fill the former McDonald’s.
The recent announcement concerning the redevelopment of the former Wheeling-Pitt Headquarters into 128 one- and two-bedroom market-rate apartments, however, could sway the location equation adopted by the McDonald’s Corporation, according to local owner Ross Stoltz.
“Right now, McDonald’s is not expanding because we’re in a pause due to Covid,” he explained. “For me to do anything new in downtown, the people with McDonald’s would have to be behind it.”
But the process would begin with the Stoltz family, the owners and operators of 11 local McDonald’s, including the restaurants at The Highlands, Elm Grove, Moundsville, Warwood, and even Woodsfield, Ohio. The final decision, however, is made by corporation executives.
“All I could do when the pandemic is over is alert them of the new development in downtown Wheeling, and then they do almost all of the work,” Stoltz said. “If they see the merit in building a new location, then it would be possible, but it’s McDonald’s that would secure the real estate, and they would do the design of the building.”
Barrel After Barrel
For the majority of 2019 and 2020, roadway construction took place along Interstate 70 in Ohio County, and on W.Va. Route 2 in Marshall County, and those projects impeded traffic to McDonald’s locations in both areas.
The numbers at the Marshall County location have improved significantly since the highway was completely reopened last year, but now the eastbound lanes of I-70 will be addressed during the next 11 months, and Stoltz doesn’t know what to expect.
“Now that (W.Va. Route 2) has been expanded, there is even more traffic that flows past the Moundsville location,” he said. “In Elm Grove, though, we’re doing OK despite the construction on I-70, but when it all reopens, it’s going to be very interesting to see how much it impacts our business.
“I know there are about 11 months or so left, but the bridges in Elm Grove should be completed by the summer,” Stoltz explained. “With the eastbound side now being concentrated on, I know the detours are encouraging everyone to go I-470, so we’ll see what difference that makes. If they want McDonald’s, hopefully they will stop at The Highlands instead of Elm Grove.”
The Most Ever
The president of the Wheeling Chamber of Commerce, Erikka Storch, has reported numerous times the fact that more people are employed inside downtown Wheeling buildings than ever before in the city’s history. A prime example is the Stones Center, an eight-story building where now at least 400 Williams Lea Tag employees report to work each day while the former Stone & Thomas department store paid no more than 200 workers during each fiscal year. And there are the 300-plus employees at Orrick, 400 staff members at Wesbanco Bank, and a plethora of employees at all the other businesses.
“I know most people don’t believe it when I tell them that downtown Wheeling has more employees than ever, but it’s true,” said Storch, also a five-term delegate in the West Virginia Legislature. “But getting a new McDonald’s would be a big thing for the downtown. It would be a very positive sign of more to come.”
But is such a benchmark possible? While the former eatery was two stories, Stoltz said the corporation no longer favors the multi-floor model, and that would be an extra step since the city mandates two-story designs for any new construction between 10th and 16th streets. There is, though, the variance process that involves the city’s Zoning Commission and City Council.
“Once the corporation is ready for more expansion, I could say something to them,” Stoltz said. “I do see the potential for a new McDonald’s in downtown Wheeling, but the corporation would have to find the real estate, and I’m not sure that’s available right now. Plus, McDonald’s isn’t building two-story restaurants any longer.
“Traffic makes a difference to the people with the corporation, and that’s why there are McDonald’s in Martins Ferry, Bellaire, and Woodsfield,” he said. “The same is true with the Warwood and Moundsville locations. There is a lot of traffic in those areas on a daily basis because of the state highways.”
Coincidentally, the Stoltz family moved to Wheeling from the Allentown, Pa., area on the same day in 1996, when the equipment auction was taking place at the shuttered McDonald’s on 12th and Market. Before settling in, Ross, his wife, and their two children, Bob and Amanda, paid a visit.
“We walked in, took a look, and walked back out,” Stoltz recalled. ”It was a small place; that’s for sure, but I’ve heard it was a busy place when there were a lot of things going on in downtown.”
That’s when his side of the McDonald’s business came to his mind.
“I would like to see a new McDonald’s in downtown, but I have to wonder about staffing it because we already hire a lot of people from Wheeling for the Warwood and Elm Grove locations,” Stoltz explained. “It makes me wonder if there is enough labor left for a third McDonald’s in Wheeling.”
