Start of Wheeling Inn Demolition Marks Step Toward New Gateway to City
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WHEELING -- For years, the Wheeling Inn was a hub of entertainment in downtown Wheeling, home to restaurants like Fabulous Fannie's and the Riverside Restaurant and Lounge. Those days have passed and now the old motel building soon will come down, making way for a new Gateway Center where it once stood.
The first step in that process came Wednesday afternoon, when workers from Raze International pulled down the first part of the building -- the awning that featured the Wheeling Inn's name. An excavator chomped down on the awning and tore through it, leaving an open space behind so trucks can get closer to the building for abatement of asbestos and other hazardous materials.
Frank O'Brien -- executive director of the Wheeling Convention and Visitors Bureau, which bought the structure in January 2023 -- said that, even though there was plenty of history in the building, it was time to come down.
"A lot of people don't realize how much of a role the Wheeling Inn really played," O'Brien said. "But all those things went by the wayside and it just became a blight on our community."
The CVB and other partners want to change that with the new Gateway Center, a project estimated to ultimately cost $13-$16 million. Once finished, part of the property will be a visitors center and another part will be a heritage center, which will honor the history of Wheeling. The new structure will also present the best view of the historic Wheeling Suspension Bridge seen in decades.
"This isn't just a monumental opportunity for Wheeling," said Jim Ambrose, president of Tipping Point, which has been hired to oversee the project's development. "It's for the whole region of the Ohio Valley. When we're done, you're going to have an unobstructed view of the Wheeling Suspension Bridge. People are going to come just to take pictures of that."
Ambrose said the speed of this project has been helped by successful partnerships between several parties -- Tipping Point, the CVB, Wheeling Heritage, the City of Wheeling and its operations department and several state departments among them. The city has already incorporated much of what it needs to do for the Gateway Center with the current Downtown Streetscape Project, like getting utility services to the site and separating the stormwater drains from the sewer.
Often, Ambrose said, when so many different groups get together, that can bog down the process, because so many different opinions get involved. Yet with the Gateway Center, the desire for every group to see the Wheeling Inn come down put everyone on the same page quickly.
Some were more vocal than others. Wheeling City Councilman Ben Seidler, whose ward includes where the Wheeling Inn stood, offered a blunt assessment of the Inn's eventual demolition.
"Good riddance," he said in a text message farewell to the motel. "You have been nothing but a crime and drug ridden nuisance for as long as I can remember. You were an embarrassment to our great city and a mockery to those who sought to make Wheeling a better place. You won't be missed."
There is plenty of excitement, though, with what is to come. O'Brien said the abatement process should take about eight weeks, and the demolition should come immediately following that. Once the building is down, a groundbreaking is planned, at which time the design of the new Gateway Center will be revealed.
Scott Schenerlein, executive director of Wheeling Heritage, called Wednesday's initial step in transforming the property "exhilarating."
"It's amazing," he said. "You stand there, and you can't believe you're finally here. There's been so much work that has gone into this. I think the biggest thing for me is the partners are working together to take care of the private investors like the Carls with the Bridge Tavern and Newbridge Church and The Health Plan. They've invested in Wheeling.
"And for us to be able to take this (building) down and continue to support them and drive tourism to Wheeling is so important," he continued. "It's an amazing day."