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WHEELING -- The site plan for a proposed apartment complex near the primary entrance to the city will come before the Wheeling Planning Commission tonight.
A site plan review for new construction at 930 Main St. appears under new business on the agenda for the April Planning Commission meeting, slated to begin at 5 p.m. today. The meeting is scheduled to take place in council chambers at the City-County Building on Chapline Street downtown. It marks the planning commission's return to meeting in-person for the first time this year, and in fact, for the first time since last fall in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The proposed construction is for a new four-story apartment complex on a vacant lot on Main Street located to the south of the former Marsh Wheeling Stogies building and west of the 10th Street Parking Garage. Currently used as a surface parking lot, the site is south of the existing alley that divides vacant lots at the main city gateway when motorists exit Interstate 70 from the Fort Henry Bridge and enter downtown.
The applicant for the site plan review is WC Marsh Lofts LP. Woda Cooper Development Inc. is the general contractor and management company spearheading the project. The complex, to be known as Marsh Wheeling Lofts, is expected to include 46 multi-family residential community units. There will be community space for on-site management, there will be an elevator, and units will include energy efficient appliances and "an array of modern amenities."
According to application documents submitted by engineer Charles Garvick of Chadan Engineering Inc., construction is expected to begin in July of this year, with an estimated completion date in September 2022. One variance will be needed for the development, according to the initial plans, and a variance request for the rear setback line has been submitted to the city for review and consideration. The Board of Zoning Appeals is slated to review the variance at its Thursday meeting.
The designs call for construction of a 67-foot-by-167-foot, four-story building with a total of 46 apartment units, including 19 one-bedroom apartments and 26 two-bedroom units, along with an on-site management space.
Entrances will be located along Main Street and the two adjacent alleys.
A recommendation to approve the site plan is being made by the city's building and planning staff.
"That property has transferred," Wheeling City Manager told members of the Mayor's Advisory Commission for Economic and Industrial Development last week, speaking of the current parking lot site -- which had been owned by the city -- where Woda intends to build the Marsh Wheeling Lofts. "That project is moving forward. They're going to use the 10th Street Garage for parking. It's a great project."
Mayor Glenn Elliott, during last week's city council meeting, added that city leaders were "excited to see" this project coming to fruition in the heart of the downtown area.
Last fall, Wheeling City Council approved a resolution authorizing the city manager to negotiate terms of an agreement with Woda to develop the project on the site.
Officials indicated that the facades of the complex visible from Main Street are expected to be at least partially brick and will remain consistent with other existing downtown buildings.