Wheeling Officials See Waterfront Development as Key to Growth

WHEELING -- City officials and business leaders in Wheeling are looking to the city's waterfronts as a key to future economic development for the Friendly City.

A focus on waterfront development -- including property along both the Ohio River and Wheeling Creek -- came to the forefront recently when a collaborative effort between local government and private sector leaders reviewed past visions for the city in order to get a clearer picture of how to help shape the future.

Last year, Wheeling Mayor Glenn Elliott and city council resurrected the Mayor's Advisory Commission on Economic and Industrial Development. The panel, made of local business leaders, was created as part of the revised city charter from the 1990s to help advise Wheeling leaders on how municipal policies and actions can help foster economic development.

The commission had not been active for decades, but the newly appointed members to the revived group held an organizational meeting in December and met for its first substantive meeting in January.

Elliott last week described that meeting as a "very good start" to becoming a forum to discuss and consider ideas for economic development.

Much of the group's brainstorming so far has centered on ways to utilize the waterfronts to keep building a vibrant downtown. In turn, that could open the door to reinvigorating neighborhoods throughout the city.

Elliott said the riverfront stretch along Water Street near Heritage Port between 12th and 14th streets may be the "most underappreciated block in the downtown footprint," along with the meandering Wheeling Creek, which runs through five of the six city wards.

Commission members were asked before January's meeting to review prior city plans and studies that had been developed as blueprints for the future — the city's 2014 Comprehensive Plan, the now 12-year-old Wheeling 2020 Plan and a plan for the city developed by former Wheeling newspaper editor Harry Hamm back in the 1980s.

"Some are a little bit dated, but I think there is good stuff in all of them," Elliott said. "Shared themes emanate through all of them."

Many ideas in the previous plans have already come to fruition, such as the development of Heritage Port. Others remain ideas in the making, and the city has continued to evolve in many ways since each plan was created.

"I was intrigued by the Harry Hamm plan," said commission member Missy Ashmore of Kennen & Kennen Realtors. "It's interesting to see how much of Wheeling has changed since the '80s. What do we still have? It's kind of neat to look at what is still here and what still works for us."

One of the real common themes among all of the plans was a focus on the riverfront and waterfront development.

"That's one of our strengths," said commission member Craig O'Leary of RED (Regional Economic Development Partnership). "It's a resource. Heritage Port has certainly changed it, but there's still recognition that we haven't taken advantage of the resources that we have on the waterfront."

One big challenge with waterfront property development is ownership. Planning is difficult when property is not under the control of the city or the planners, and those who own the property many times are not involved in the planning process.

"I think that's a disconnect that's led to a lot of things not happening," O'Leary said.

Elliott stressed the importance of the city government and the business community working together to make projects happen. At times, it doesn't always happen.

"Sometimes in Wheeling when folks know the city is interested in properties, the price of those properties take an interesting skyrocket up," Elliott said. "The price of the property goes up so high, it's just not a fair market price, and nothing ever happens."

According to Wheeling City Manager Robert Herron, the Wheeling 2020 Plan took a hard look at waterfront development.

"We found that it would not occur if we didn't clean up what was before the waterfront development," Herron said. "People didn't want to build on the waterfront, turn around and look out their backdoor or look down the street and see dilapidated structures."

Herron noted that changes in municipal leadership over the years kept many elements from eventually being implemented, despite plenty of effort.

Yet waterfront development and historic preservation come up over and over again in the past plans, the mayor stressed, and those are things that truly impact the quality of life.

"Embracing riverfront opportunities is something almost every plan talks about, as well as restoring the downtown as a destination," Elliott said, quoting from the Harry Hamm Plan, which asserted "neighborhoods that front on the river should be encouraged to look in that direction."

"I think that would also apply to Wheeling Creek," the mayor said. "There are rivers in some cities called 'rivers' that are not as wide as Wheeling Creek. Yet, it's ignored from Elm Grove to downtown."

Elliott noted that the patio area to Generation's opens up to the creek, but other than that, it is met with a blind eye, for the most part.

"I've always wanted Wheeling to be like a little Pittsburgh, with destination neighborhoods," commission member Kayleen Clough of the Fitzsimmons Foundation said, noting that the Strip District, the South Side, Oakland and other areas of the Steel City are hot spots of activity that draw people to them. "I thought Wheeling could always do that on a smaller scale."

In addition to destinations for shops and boutiques like in Centre Market or in Woodsdale, Wheeling could use more hotels and AirBnBs, and could target its waterfront for development into a strip district-style destination, Clough proposed.

Outside of the current pandemic when large gatherings are not possible, Wheeling's typical late spring, summer and early fall activities at Heritage Port draw masses of people downtown. Officials said they must build off of this. Yet even when throngs of people are downtown for festivals at the port, most go directly to their cars when they leave the event, and then leave town.

There needs to be a situation where more brick and mortar businesses are directly benefiting from the influx of people to Heritage Port events, city leaders said.

"Downtown, particularly Water Street, is probably our biggest underperforming asset," Wheeling Vice Mayor Chad Thalman said. "That's an area we need to focus on."

Some developments are already moving forward. Late last year, the city was awarded a $240,864 grant to help fund plans for the Robrecht Riverfront Park along the banks of Wheeling Creek and the Ohio River where the two waterways meet. Private sector plans have also been in the works to redevelop the rear, riverfront side of the building that houses Mugshots, and future retail options are hopeful for the former Berry Supply building on Water Street, officials indicated.

The next meeting of the Mayor's Advisory Commission on Economic and Industrial Development has not been set, but Elliott said they hoped to reconvene in late March or early April to further discuss plans.