I was driving through Downtown Wheeling recently and noticed two new projects I wasn't aware of. Unfortunately I couldn't get any good pictures because it was night time. Another random side note- the Health Plan headquarters has been completed. It looks good along Main Street, but along Market Street, its quite a disappointment. The building looks really good, but it is set very far back from the road and has an open field and surface parking between it and the road. It is sadly very suburban. But, it does bring a lot of jobs and investment to Downtown, and the surface lot may eventually be developed, so overall I'm happy.
1069 Main Street Renovations:
The first building I noticed was across the street from the Health Plan Headquarters in the former Tom's Pizza Building. The building has been left vacant since the shop closed in the 90s.
The exterior, before renovations began:
The City of Wheeling has owned the building for several years and were willing to give it to any viable developer for free. In early 2016, two people took control of the building - one a local, and one a South African. Both have been involved in other small projects in Wheeling. They plan to renovate the bottom floor for retail space and the upper two floors for his private residential space. It appears that they plan to make one residential unit which will keep the original historic character mixed with a modern loft feel.
A view of the second floor. This space will be the living room of their loft:
They hope to "bring back the original facade" which was covered up on the ground floor. There are no tenants announced (as of this 2016 article: I cannot find anything else about the project.) but they are optimistic about finding one due to their close proximity to the Health Plan. The rear of the building has decayed to the point that it will be completely removed and replaced. When I drove past briefly, I could see work was being done on the front facade still. I can't find any info on how the renovation is progressing though.
An example of the very damaged interior:
Gerraro Music Building Apartment Conversion:
I was sort of aware of this project but forgot about it until I saw it - and wow... it looks very out of left field. The building is a pretty strange one. It is
located near both the Health Plan and Capitol Theater on Main Street. The building sits back from the road and has a strip-mall-esque building attached to it with surface parking.
The building pre-renovations:
The plan is to convert the building into multiple apartment units and a restaurant overlooking the Ohio River. I think this is a good plan - the backyard of the building is the Wheeling Heritage Biketrail which is along the river.
Now I have not the slightest clue what in the hell the developers are going for - they've essentially masked the whole building under this... bland and strange facade. Maybe I'm missing something, but it just looks really wierd. It appears white in this photo I found (only one I could find) but I thought it looked grey when I saw it. I think they extended the building out farther towards Market Street.
The facade during renovations. I have no idea what's up with it:
The Health Plan Headquarters from Main Street:
