Photo by Eric Ayres The Wheeling Convention and Visitors Bureau Marketing Assistant Michael Biela, Executive Director Frank O’Brien and Marketing Director Olivia Litman, from left, appear at the site of the Wheeling Inn, the longtime Main Street hotel that the CVB purchased for $1.7 million.

WHEELING – The group behind the upcoming Wheeling Gateway Center – the new welcome center planned for the spot where the old Wheeling Inn now stands – is seeking input from Wheeling residents and visitors as to what they think that new site should look like.

Those interested can visit wheelinggateway.tippingpointdev.com to find not only the survey, but a photo gallery of possible inspirations for the new site, a video outlining the project, and news and updates.

The website is currently in a soft launch, said Jim Ambrose, president of Tipping Point, the development company hired to oversee the multimillion-dollar project. A more definitive launch is coming soon. Ambrose created the program about six months ago and thought the Gateway Center project would be a good test.

“Honestly, there are really no glaring issues that have been found this week from the feedback,” Ambrose said. “The hope would be to launch it next week, officially.”

The Wheeling Convention and Visitors Bureau last January bought the old Wheeling Inn property for about $1.7 million. The plan is to knock down the old hotel and construct a visitors center that the CVB feels would be an appropriate introduction into downtown Wheeling.

Desmone Architects will lead the design, engineering and site development of the center. The budget for the site is estimated between $13-$16 million.

So the CVB and its partners in the endeavor are interested in what residents and visitors would like to see in the new facility. CVB Executive Director Frank O’Brien said there will be room for a cultural component, as well as ample opportunity for an unrestricted view of the Wheeling Suspension Bridge. There also will be space reserved for components to generate revenue.

“Our ultimate goal is to get about 10,000 responses to the survey,” O’Brien said, “and correlate that data so we can come up with something that not only has a lot of buy-in, but equally as important, will be types of revenue generators that can be inside this whole gateway complex for sustainability.”

Among the survey questions is whether visitors to the site would like to see a restaurant, shopping, office space or even apartments on the property. The survey also asks about people’s interests, be it food, history or outdoor recreation.

There also is a photo gallery further down the website. The photos included are not proposed designs for the building, O’Brien said, but website visitors can like and comment on specific photos and tell Gateway Center partners the type of building they’d like to see on those grounds.

“One of the things we’ve discovered in previous projects is that it’s really hard for people to communicate, in general, what they’re seeing in their minds,” Ambrose said. “Everybody is picturing what this thing could look like. And sometimes when you’re trying to translate that into words and into text, it’s not always what people really intend.

“So the goal is to have the written version of the survey, but then we also have the photo library so people can like and comment on things they like.”

And if that person doesn’t see a photo they like, there’s a place where they can upload a photo of a building they believe would be a better inspiration.

Ambrose said the plan is to keep the survey up for about a month and a half and afterward, gather that information for a formal presentation at the Capitol Theatre.

Both Ambrose and O’Brien said they’re happy with the progress being made so far. The plan, both said, is to have the building demolished sometime later this year. There are some hurdles to clear, including asbestos abatement in the current structure and putting in a vapor barrier between the existing soil and where the new building would be to mitigate soil contamination.

Yet they’re both excited not only for the continued work on the Gateway Center, but to see what those who will use it think it should look like and include.

“We’ve got one chance to make a significant impact on the entrance to the city, the primary gateway to the city,” O’Brien said. “And if we do this right, I think we’ve made a statement and we’re preparing for Wheeling’s future growth.”