Developer Taking Closer Look at 1400 Block of Market Street in Downtown Wheeling
Desmone Architects of Pittsburgh is still very interested in pursuing renovating the 1400 block of Market St. owned by the city of Wheeling, but needs to make sure it is feasible in today’s market, a city official says.
File photo
Desmone Architects of Pittsburgh is currently gathering environmental and financial information related to its proposal for the 1400 block of Market St. before deciding to move forward with redeveloping the buildings. Shown here this week, a Wheeling Fire Department ladder truck helps a company gain a sample of roof for asbestos testing.
File Photo by Shelley Hanson
Desmone Architects of Pittsburgh is still very interested in pursuing renovating the 1400 block of Market St. owned by the city of Wheeling, but needs to make sure it is feasible in today’s market, a city official says.
File photo
Desmone Architects of Pittsburgh is currently gathering environmental and financial information related to its proposal for the 1400 block of Market St. before deciding to move forward with redeveloping the buildings. Shown here this week, a Wheeling Fire Department ladder truck helps a company gain a sample of roof for asbestos testing.
File Photo by Shelley HansonTrending
The Pittsburgh-based company interested in redeveloping four different downtown buildings together is gathering related information before making that decision.
Motorists in the downtown area may have noticed the 1400 block of Market Street was blocked for a short time this week while the Wheeling Fire Department's ladder truck was in use. The department was helping a company - Intertek Professional Services Industries - take roofing samples from the buildings that are being tested on behalf of a developer.
Michele Rejonis, spokeswoman for the city of Wheeling, said there is someone interested in redeveloping the properties.
"There is an interested developer who is doing their due diligence and feasibility studies," Rejonis said. "An asbestos inspection is part of the Phase I environmental being completed."
The interested company is Desmone Architects of Pittsburgh. Desmone has a memorandum of understanding with the city regarding the buildings.
"They are currently the developer doing their due diligence to see if they can come up with a (financial analysis) that makes sense to develop the structures," Rejonis added.
The city purchased 1437, 1433 and 1492 Market St. in 2005 and 1429 Market St. in 2006 with the idea of razing the buildings to make room for new development. However, after getting a $350,000 estimate for demolishing the buildings, city leaders decided it would be best to see if anyone would be interested in rehabbing the buildings.
One business remains open - Market Street News adult book and novelty store - while the others have since closed, the Sportsman Club and G&G bar.
The city sought requests for proposals for redevelopment last year, received three and eventually decided on Desmone.
Desmone's potential plan for the building includes retail on the bottom of 1437 Market St. while the first floors of the other buildings would be turned into a large restaurant featuring outdoor seating. Parking would be at the rear. The upper floors would be turned into AirBnB units.
Nancy Prager, director of Economic and Community Development for Wheeling, said Desmone is still very interested in pursuing the project, but needs to make sure it is feasible in today's market.
"Construction materials have increased along with some other costs associated with the project. They are in the process of doing that due diligence now," Prager said. "The asbestos inspection is part of that along with the construction team going through the building to see current conditions.
"Once they have finalized their assessments they will meet again with city officials to talk about moving the project forward."
Betsy Sweeny, director of Heritage Programming for Wheeling Heritage, said her organization partnered with the city in an effort to advertise the properties nationally.
"We had several interested developers step forward, and Desmone was ultimately selected to enter into a period of exclusivity for development planning," she said. "Investigation like the sampling for hazardous materials that was happening yesterday, is all part of the due diligence needed to create an accurate financial model.
"We are excited and encouraged by the interest these properties have, and look forward to planning for their future."