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City leaders in Wheeling have a upcoming decision that will be imperative to the growth and development of what soon will be the city's hotbed of economic activity.
City Manager Robert Herron recently informed members of City Council that he soon will be seeking developers to consider just what is the right use for the property that previously housed the Center Wheeling Parking Garage and the Wheeling Fire Department headquarters. The site has been leveled and cleared over the past year and with the WVU Medicine Wheeling Hospital Regional Cancer Center being planned just across the street at the former Ohio Valley Medical Center site, finding the best use for the city-owned property is imperative, both for the neighborhood and for the new cancer center.
"We want to begin the process of attracting a developer to present to city council ideas for developing that property," Herron said Tuesday night. "The building is designed where the patrol division of the police department is on the second floor, and it would have emptied out into the parking structure, and the cruisers would have been parking there."
One idea that has been removed from consideration was a two-level parking garage next to the new city Police Department headquarters that would have served both the public and the department. Herron was right to nix that plan -- not only would it be overly expensive, it also would not have adequately served the Center Market area.
There does need to be some additional work for a sally port to serve the police department, but once that's done about 70% of the existing site will remain. Given the scope of what WVU Medicine is doing -- a $100-plus million investment -- Wheeling must get this right.
"We want to cut loose the RFQ for development services to develop the rest of that site, hopefully into a mixed use development that would complement not only Centre Market but also the WVU Cancer Center project across the street," Herron said.
It's hard to explain just how important it will be to get right this new development directly across the street from the cancer center. This is an opportunity the city cannot afford to squander. That's happened far too many times in the past -- and given the stakes of what the cancer center will mean to growth and development in Center Wheeling, this can't be a swing and miss.
City leaders have much to consider here. Let's make sure, above all else, that any proposed project complement the good things happening in town.