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The last thing Ohio County needs is another empty, unused building, especially one that was built in the last few years. That's why it was good to see that the former Guntry site at The Highlands likely will soon have a new occupant.
Midwest Shooting Center, an Ohio-based company with sites stretching from Pennsylvania to South Dakota, has added a Wheeling, West Virginia, site to its website under the banner of "Coming Soon." A Facebook page has also popped up, including a link to apply for jobs.
Ohio County Commissioner Randy Wharton -- also the president of the Ohio County Development Authority, which oversees activity at The Highlands --said the plan right now is that Midwest won't take over the entire Guntry facility, which will leave space to add even more tenants.
That's good news for the facility, owned by the Regional Economic Development Authority. It was exciting to see Guntry build its second facility in the country at The Highlands, and it was really disappointing to see its doors stay open just over a year. Administration at the business said that, as hard as the company tried, the needed customer traffic just wasn't there for it to stay open.
But RED, to its credit, didn't want the building to lie dormant. Guntry closed in May and a new company providing many of the same services announced it was moving in just months later. Kudos to RED for acting swiftly.
And it also shows that The Highlands remains an attractive site for many types of industries. WVU Medicine recently announced it would move into the former AT&T call center space and create an outpatient clinic offering multiple services. It's not often that an empty store space at The Highlands stays empty for long.
It's encouraging to see businesses continue viewing The Highlands as a popular place to hang their respective shingles. Hopefully, that will continue.