New Garage Viewed as Key Piece of Downtown’s Future
Photo by Eric Ayres Trending
WHEELING -- City leaders who broke ground Wednesday for a new parking garage described the structure as a catalyst for economic growth that will serve as a cornerstone for future development and additional downtown revitalization.
Members of Wheeling City Council were joined by other city leaders and the project's key players for a ceremonial groundbreaking at the site of the new Market Street Garage at the corner of 11th Street in the heart of the downtown central business district. The six-deck, $12.3 million-dollar facility is expected to be completed by next year.
According to Wheeling Mayor Glenn Elliott, one of the city's top priorities has been to make the city's downtown area a destination location once again.
"Folks with some gray hair can remember the day when you'd get in your car and drive to downtown Wheeling, and there was guaranteed to be something to eat, something to buy and things to experience," Elliott said.
"And that's the vision we have for downtown again. It may not look the same as it did back in 1965 or whatever, but that's the vision."
One of the main purposes of building the new parking garage at the corner of Market and 11th streets will be to serve future tenants of the Historic Wheeling-Pitt Lofts, a $30 million private investment underway three buildings south of the site of the new parking structure. Developer Steve Coon of Coon Restoration and Sealants and building owner Dr. John Johnson of Access Infrastructure LLC have committed to bringing new market-rate apartments into the 12-story former Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel headquarters building - also known as the Schmulbach Building at 1134 Market St., a historic landmark originally built in 1905 by local brewer and entrepreneur Henry Schmulbach.
The city's agreement to build the parking structure allows the redevelopment of the Wheeling-Pitt building to move forward. But city officials said the new garage will be much more than just a parking area for tenants of the new apartments.
"A strategy used by many Rust Belt cities to revitalize their downtowns starts with housing," the mayor said. "You've got to get people into vacant buildings that you have."
Working with the Regional Economic Development Partnership (RED), the city was able to acquire the former Chase Bank building and the neighboring McFadden Building, which formerly housed the Chris Miller Furniture. Access Infrastructure purchased the former Subway building, which is adjacent to the Wheeling-Pitt building, and the only other building in the block north of the Wheeling-Pitt high-rise that is occupied is home to CVS Pharmacy.
With millions of dollars of investments at hand, this entire block is expected to be revitalized in a way that brings a new life to the entire downtown, officials said.
"Our vision is much more than one building," Elliott said. "I want you to imagine an entirely redeveloped block here between 11th and 12th Street on Market Street.
There is one retail outlet now, but there will be eight or nine different commercial sites available here in the near future. This building alone is going to provide about 10,000 square feet of new retail space, and we hope a nice little restaurant area here with some covered seating on this corner, which is going to be a really nice feature."
Wheeling City Manager Robert Herron commended city council for "working to incentivize significant private investment" that will lead to the "renovation of a marquee building in downtown Wheeling." He said the new parking structure has been designed to be fully automated, will include electric car charging devices, will have 290 spaces with over 100 available for general parking, and will feature ground-floor commercial space "to create vibrancy on this block and downtown as a whole."
Officials added that there will also be street-level retail potential for the former Chris Miller Furniture building, the former Subway building and the lower level of the Wheeling-Pitt building itself. The redevelopment is also expected to help increase foot traffic for the existing CVS Pharmacy and other area businesses.
"This is going to be ground zero for future economic development downtown," Elliott said. "It's a big piece of what we're trying to do, and we're very excited about it."
The new parking structure will blend in with the other existing structures in the block, officials added. It has intentionally been designed to look "as little like a parking garage as possible," Elliott said.
Over the past several months, Raze International of Shadyside conducted the demolition of the former Chase Bank building to clear the property for the new parking structure. The city hired Raze last year at a cost of $475,000 for asbestos abatement and demolition. That demolition work had been slightly delayed because of the "the Fort Knox of concrete structures" that was found under Chase Bank building during demolition and site preparation, according to Greco, who noted that about 75-80% of the materials removed from the site have been recycled - making it as "green" of a project as possible.
Carl Walker Construction, which was hired as the general contractor for the parking structure build, has now taken over on the site.
The additional parking availability for downtown visitors will help ease the tight parking situation in the upper part of downtown, officials explained. The already busy 10th Street Parking Garage is expected to reach near capacity once the new Woda housing complex The Doris on Main - under construction now on the adjacent former surface lot - is completed.
As the new parking structure is being built, the bulk of the renovations at the Wheeling-Pitt Lofts is expected to pick up in the coming months. Officials said the building has basically been gutted, and work will soon shift in full gear to construction of the estimated 128 apartment units.
"It is the coolest structure in Wheeling," Coon said Wednesday. "Everybody has pulled together to help me try to figure this out, and they've all done a great job. We are happy to be here. We know it's going to be a huge success. We're actually looking forward to identifying other properties in the area to do the same thing, so we're just glad to be part of the team."
Hays Landscape Architecture Studio served as civil engineer for the parking garage project, Walter P. Moore served as parking consultant and Western Alliance Bank provided the financing. Last year, the city approved a bond ordinance for up to $19.5 million to fund the project.