Photo by Eric Ayres Wheeling City Council approved the application for Section 108 loan in the amount of $2 million from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for the Ohio Valley Food and Innovation Hub, which will be an anchor tenant in the 1400 Block redevelopment project on Market Street in downtown Wheeling.

WHEELING – Wheeling City Council took action to help put the final puzzle piece in place to secure funding for the long-awaited rehabilitation of historic buildings located in the 1400 block of Market Street downtown.

During Tuesday night’s meeting of Wheeling City Council, a resolution was passed to approve the Section 108 Loan Guarantee application for the Ohio Valley Food and Innovation Hub. The loan in the amount of $2 million through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development will help the project move forward – with mobilization expected as early as late spring or early summer.

“This is the final piece of the capital stack necessary to begin that project,” Wheeling City Manager Robert Herron said. “It’s a very complicated capital stack, and it’s taken a lot of time and energy, but it does involve federal and state historic tax credits, as well as New Market Tax Credits. The Section 108 loan are the last dollars into this project, which is approximately over $11 million.”

The city purchased the four buildings in the 1400 block of Market Street several years ago and have been working with private developers to get the buildings redeveloped and repurposed. In recent years, the city has partnered with developer Chip Desmone, CEO of architectural company Desmone, and coordinated efforts by consultants from Tipping Point on the revitalization of the 1400 Block.

Herron noted that the city has helped facilitate the acquisition of funding through the HUD Section 108 loan program in the past. Other developments using the federal loan guarantee program included the Orrick project and the Lowe’s project.

“It’s also part of the incentive package on the WVU Regional Cancer Center project,” Herron said.

Members of Wheeling City Council unanimously supported the resolution during Tuesday night’s meeting.

“It’s a mixed use development, from what I understand,” said Vice Mayor Jerry Sklavounakis. “It’s pretty exciting because all the bottom floors – there are four different storefronts, and they’re all going to be full for at least seven years, so I think that’s a wonderful thing for our downtown Wheeling.”

Jim Ambrose, president of Tipping Point, said a new entity under the Desmone umbrella was created specifically for this project.

“The development entity is called Standard Cigar Works LLC – that’s the property owner, and it’s a special purpose entity created to be able to take other incentives and other public sources to be able to contribute to the project beyond what the city has contributed,” Ambrose said.

Ambrose said Tipping Point was simply helping to tie all of the pieces together on the project, noting that Chip Desmone was unable to attend Tuesday night’s meeting.

“We’ve always known it was going to be a historic preservation project, but tonight we’re happy to announce that the project is intended to anchor a future Food and Innovation Hub that is meant to be a really high community impact use,” Ambrose said. “It will create up to 40 jobs and impact thousands of people in the Ohio Valley region.”

Three tenants on the ground level are expected to include a fresh food restaurant eyed for the space previously occupied by the former adult book store. A small business incubator intended to generate new jobs locally will also be located no the street level. The final two street-level bays will be occupied by the food hub, which will take fresh food ingredients and post-process them into shelf-stable products.

“Upstairs will continue to be high-quality housing,” Ambrose noted. “We’re trying to establish additional housing pipelines in Wheeling.”

Ambrose said the $2 million loan combined with other funds that have already been secured will help unlock New Market Tax Credits.

“The total project cost will actually be $15 million,” he said.