photo by: Eric Ayres

U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg speaks with Dan Milleson, left, owner of the Waterfront Hall under development in the former Berry Supply building on Water Street during a visit in July. Wheeling Mayor Glenn Elliott listens at right.

More than a year after Wheeling City Council adopted a new Upper Floor Incentive Program, the first participant in the initiative has been approved for funding.

This month, members of Wheeling City Council passed the first resolution to provide an Upper Floor Incentive Program grant for LSRG LLC in the amount of $200,000. The registered agent for LSRG LLC is Richard Milleson of Piedmont, Ohio.

“That’s for Waterfront Hall,” Wheeling City Manager Robert Herron told members of city council. “It’s a several-million-dollar project. This is the maximum amount that is allowed — up to $200,000. Obviously, it’s been a successful opening, and it is for that project.”

Waterfront Hall, which area businessman Dan Milleson opened earlier this year across from Heritage Port in downtown Wheeling, is a three-level facility on Water Street located inside the former Berry Supply Building. The building was completely renovated from top to bottom and now houses a tavern and live music venue on the lower level, along with two leased commercial spaces on one side of the street level — one of which includes the new home for Avenue Eats.

The building also includes AirBnB apartments and an event space on the upper floors of the three-story building.

In July of 2022, city council passed an ordinance to create the Upper Floor Incentive Program to help provide financial assistance and to encourage owners of multi-level properties to extend renovations beyond street-level. City leaders have noted that for years, projects in older buildings in Wheeling would routinely occupy the street level of the facility, but the upper floors would remain vacant.

Officials explained that because of fire codes, it is often an economic challenge to include upper floors in renovation plans because of requirements for fire escapes and other codes. Many developers don’t find it cost effective to activate upper floors when renovating multi-level properties, officials said, noting that unoccupied upper floors can sometimes lead to fire hazards.

City leaders developed the Upper Floor Incentive Program to provide funds for eligible developments in multi-level buildings. Framed in a similar way that the city’s popular Facade Improvement Program is set up, the Upper Floor Incentive Program provides matching funds for eligible projects to get them reactivated and put back in use.

“I’m very pleased to see this proposal go forward,” Wheeling Mayor Glenn Elliott said of the grant award for Waterfront Hall. “The Upper Floor Incentive Program is something that we discussed as a way really to encourage private property owners to make better use of their buildings, which in many cases, the upper floors have sat vacant for many years. The cost of getting these upper floors back into code compliance is considerable. So this is one way we thought the city could help push that along. It’s something that’s great to see for this project, and I hope we can find a way to fund it for projects going forward.”

Officials noted that the Upper Floor Incentive Program is for renovations to existing buildings — not new construction. Money for the program is being pulled from the city’s Project Fund, which in recent years had been bolstered by federal pandemic relief reimbursements through the CARES (Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security) Act.

Herron said a total of $500,000 was originally set aside for the program.

Milleson and his team had applied for the Upper Floor Incentive Program funding when the renovations to the building were taking place, the city manager said. Historic tax credits were also sought during the renovation of the former Berry Supply Building – which dates back to 1877 — and its redevelopment into Waterfront Hall last year was awarded $100,000 through a Wheeling Historic Revitalization Subgrant Program. This program was made possible when Wheeling Heritage was awarded a $750,000 Paul Bruhn Historic Revitalization Grant from the National Park Service.