Buildings are going up, and buildings are coming down.
It’s happening throughout the city of Wheeling, but most of the attention has been focused on the downtown area because of the drought of economic development for the along Main and Market streets. When The Health Plan headquarters was constructed and opened a little more than five years ago in downtown Wheeling, for example, it was the first privately funded new-building project since 1986.
These days, though, a new, $15 million city-owned parking structure with retail on street level is nearing completion on 11th and Market, and Toni DiCarlo is funding the re-location of her pizza shop to 1125 Main Street and a multiple-level condominium building 1115 Main Street.
But demolitions frequently are emotional for those who lived there or worked there, and eyewitnessing the razing of the OVMC campus has been painful for many. Sons and daughters got to work where mom and dad did, maybe a million lives breathed first within those tumbling walls, and the Center Wheeling skyline has been altered forever.
The good news is WVU Health System, the parent company of WVU Medicine, has agreed to a long-term lease on the land for the construction of a regional cancer treatment and research center.
The Center Wheeling Garage, according to City Manager Bob Herron, will be replaced by a small building that will house professional space along Market Street where the city’s fire headquarter once was located, and parking for the police headquarters along Chapline Street.
The membership at the Scottish Rite Cathedral has conducted extensive cleanup efforts since the last standing with Roxby Development finally vacated the historic structure in June 2023. The membership has cleaned, reassembled areas, and restored order to the five-floor building that was utilized as an event center under Roxby management. The building’s future is unknown at this time.
The City of Wheeling has presented films for several years, but thanks to Herron, those showings spread to several neighborhoods during the past two summers. This presentation of “Field of Dreams” starring Kevin Costner and James Earl Jones, took place on August 23rd at Patterson Field in Elm Grove, and the Elm Grove Civics offered concessions during the movie.
Artworks Around Town continues to be a very popular gallery in the north market house at Centre Market, but unfortunately, they have had to implement this rule for those who visit. No worries, though, the works are phenomenal and are always better in person, so be sure to stroll through the next time you visit that part of the city.
Oh, and while there, don’t forget to visit the Hershey’s Ice Cream shop in the upper market house as Barb Hunter continues to scoop up the goodness on a daily basis. New this month – Orange Creamsicle!
When the pandemic shut down everything allegedly “nonessential,” that included most of the tourist attractions in the Northern Panhandle and in East Ohio. So, when the Pirates played the Guardians in Cleveland this past weekend, it was great to see the state of West Virginia being marketed to travelers in the region.
If some local residents didn’t know the Wheeling Ohio County Airport existed, the “Wings Over Wheeling” event held at the facility took care of that for sure! The event featured aerial acrobatics, legendary aircraft, current military planes and helicopters, food trucks, and the aircraft used as a part of the new partnership between Marshall University and West Liberty University.
It may have taken more than 20 years to have it built, but the addition of the arch at Heritage Port is a terrific entrance to the popular place and it complements the Harry Hamm Memorial Flag Pole very well.
It has been a terrific summer for sunsets at Heritage Port, and that included last Wednesday while Eli & The Mojo Kings performed during the city’s final “Waterfront Wednesday” of the summer season.
