Several Major Wheeling Demolition Projects Ahead of Schedule
Eric Ayres Trending
WHEELING -- Three major demolition projects in the city of Wheeling have made significant progress in recent months, and all are reportedly ahead of schedule.
One prominent project near the primary entrance to the Friendly City's downtown area on Main Street is actually wrapping up, while two multimillion-dollar demolitions in Center Wheeling have completely changed the landscape and the neighborhood's skyline in recent months.
Wheeling City Manager Robert Herron recently updated city leaders about the steady progress being made on all three demolition sites in the city.
Although the Wheeling Convention and Visitors Bureau owns the former Wheeling Inn property and is spearheading the effort to redevelop the site into the proposed Wheeling Gateway and Visitors Heritage Center adjacent to the historic Wheeling Suspension Bridge, the city of Wheeling has remained a partner with the CVB in this effort.
The physical demolition of the former hotel began last month, but the work has been moving along at a brisk pace. Raze International of Shadyside was awarded a $500,000 contract for asbestos abatement and demolition, and the cost of the former hotel's removal will be paid with funds from the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection's Reclamation of Abandoned and Dilapidated Properties Program. The city of Wheeling helped facilitate this grant-funded demolition.
"I'm happy to report that the Wheeling Inn demolition project -- which is funded through the state of West Virginia but is a contract with the city of Wheeling where we are reimbursed by the state -- is 90% completed," Herron said. "They are on schedule to have the entire site demolished with fill material put in and compacted by the end of December. So that project has gone very well."
Over the past few weeks, the hotel that for decades blocked the view of the Wheeling Suspension Bridge was torn down, revealing a new view of the historic and recently rehabilitated span from Main Street.
New views are also being seen in Center Wheeling, where the city's demolition of the Center Wheeling Parking Garage and WVU Medicine's demolition of the former Ohio Valley Medical Center have been ongoing this year.
"We're very fortunate in that (the Wheeling Inn) demolition as well as the Center Wheeling parking structure demolition and the OVMC demolition projects -- three very significant demolition projects -- have gone according to plan, and in all cases are a little bit ahead of schedule," Herron said.
Work on the Center Wheeling parking garage began in March. Wheeling City Council awarded a $1.64 million contract to Reclaim Co. LLC of Fairmont, W.Va., to remove the parking structure that for decades served the former OVMC.
Demolition at the OVMC site began a year ago and was expected to take around 14 months to complete. WVU Medicine awarded a $6.8 million demolition contract last summer to F.R. Beinke Wrecking Inc. of New Jersey for demolition of the remaining vacant structures on the former OVMC campus.
The city of Wheeling and Ohio County Commission partnered with WVU Medicine on the project. The city acquired the OVMC property after the hospital closed its doors in September of 2019 after serving the Ohio Valley for many decades.
Once cleared, WVU Medicine is planning to construct a state-of-the-art regional cancer center on the former OVMC site.