This past Tuesday, 14 ceremonial shovels turning over dirt at perhaps the highest point of Center Wheeling marked the official groundbreaking for the WVU Cancer Institute St. Joseph Regional Cancer Complex. It was encouraging to hear hospital, city and local development officials discuss just what a $122 million investment in Wheeling — perhaps the largest in the city’s history — would mean.

But what follows next is perhaps just as important to the city’s future.

Wheeling has a unique opportunity to remake itself in the coming years — one that could well define the city and its trajectory. If, in two and one-half years when the cancer center opens, Wheeling does not look, act and work differently, then we will have failed. If, when the cancer center opens, there are not new housing options, a revitalized Center Wheeling, a continued effort to enhance quality of life in this city, then we will have failed.

Let’s be clear — if Wheeling does not capitalize on this moment starting today, if the entire community does not come together to craft a vision of the future, then we will have failed.

The cancer center, which soon will be rising from the bones of the former Ohio Valley Medical Center, signals WVU Medicine’s confidence in Wheeling. It brings the promise of jobs, investment and renewed energy to a neighborhood that has been searching for its next chapter. As was noted during the groundbreaking, it signifies hope in a city that seems to have lost its way over the past half-century.”

The cancer center will bring physicians, nurses, specialists and support staff to the city. It will bring patients and families who may spend days or weeks here. It will draw people from across the region into Wheeling on a regular basis.

The question is whether the city will be ready to meet them.

Housing must be part of that answer — and quickly. Not someday. Not after another study. Now.

There must be places for professionals to live that reflect the expectations of today’s workforce. There must be options for families who want to stay close to loved ones receiving care. There must be a mix of affordability and quality that makes choosing Wheeling an easy decision, not a compromise.

Without that, the real opportunity here — defining the city’s future — will slip away.

The same can be said for the broader picture of Wheeling. Infrastructure, neighborhood development, small business growth — none of these can be afterthoughts. If the Center Wheeling and Centre Market areas are not positioned to benefit, then the full impact of this investment will never be realized.

Wheeling has seen moments like this before — moments where the potential for growth was real, but the follow-through fell short. Orrick’s Global Operations Center is one that comes to mind.

That cannot happen again.

To their credit, local leaders, development officials, and the private sector have shown what can be accomplished when they work together. That cooperation helped bring this project to life. It will take the same level of focus — and more — to build on it.

This is not a time for half-measures, for thinking we can wait until tomorrow to address this.

It is a time for urgency.

It is a time to move housing ideas forward, to clear obstacles that slow development, to think clearly about how the city grows and flourishes around this new anchor.

It also is a time for the entire community — not just “officials” — to recognize what is at stake. Professionals, developers, business owners and residents all have a role to play in shaping what comes next.

A major investment does not ensure success. It creates the chance for it.

Wheeling now has that chance — the chance to grow, the chance to create opportunities for our children to stay here and raise a family. That’s been missing for decades.

The groundwork has been laid atop Center Wheeling’s highest point. What our city builds from that will define whether this moment becomes a turning point … or another missed opportunity.

The time for real leadership is now. Mayor Dennis Magruder needs to bring together elected and appointed officials. The business community must respond. Private investors must step forward. The entire community must be involved.

Let’s usher in a new era for Wheeling.

The time is now.