Novotney: What's Possible in 2026?
There’s plenty to look forward to in the Wheeling area in 2026, and that includes the day when Wheeling’s city manager Bob Herron proclaims the $37 million downtown “streetscape” project complete.
Preparations for the facelift began 10 years ago with underground work on water, sewer, and natural gas lines, and Trinton Construction began the actual streetscape project in November 2022. At that time, the original price projection was $32 million, and the bid called for a 2024 completion.
Herron confirmed recently that Triton crew members should finish in the spring, and it will be one of several developments that could take place during this new year.
Below is a list of possibilities:
The front facade of the new welcome/heritage will be quite different from the way the hotel once stood on the property.
HERITAGE COLLECTIVE
The public has seen some magnificent renderings of the project for the corner of 10th and Main streets in downtown Wheeling, and hopefully, 2026 will be the year when the plans are determined “final” and the groundbreaking takes place.
The property owner, the Wheeling Convention & Visitor’s Bureau, has partnered with Wheeling Heritage and the Tipping Point development firm, as well as with the City of Wheeling and the Ohio County Commission, and the plan is to build a “heritage and welcome center” that will attract motorists from their travels along the east-west Interstate 70.
The black barriers are a recent addition on both sides of the Wheeling Suspension Bridge.
SUSPENDED SUSPENSE
The Wheeling Suspension Bridge was shuttered in September 2019 after a fully-packed tour bus traveled over it and fractured support cables connected to the span's northeast anchor near Main Street.
The repairs, coupled with a long-overdue beautification and lighting projects, cost about $19 million and were completed in early 2025, but the historic span has remained closed to vehicular traffic, and removable barriers were added a few months ago without much explanation.
What the future holds is, officially, at least, unknown and hopefully will be revealed at some point during this new year.
Approximately 15 students were involved with the fabrication of the new Bruin.
BRUIN PRIDE
Not only will a few more steel bears be placed in front of Brooke County’s public schools, but Superintendent Dr. Jeff Crook has promised much more progress within the district.
As many as 15 Brooke High School career technical students were involved with the designing and construction of an 800-pound steel Bruin that’s been positioned in front of the high school, and similar projects are planned for 2026.
The school district has also been improving its athletic facilities over the past few years, and that remains a goal for the future.
Wheeling Tunnel was opened on Dec. 7, 1966, and it connected Interstate 70 to the freeway in East Ohio.
TUNNEL VISION
Absolutely nothing has been announced by the state’s Division of Highways, but local residents have registered complaints the past couple of years concerning the lighting and consistent roadway conditions inside the Wheeling Tunnel. The most recent rehabilitation to the east and west tubes took place between 2007 and 2010, and the troubled project fell short of addressing the tunnel’s drainage issues.
Plus, the east-side facade is in tragic need of a thorough cleansing.
Robert "Moose" Dodrill ran unopposed for mayor of Bellaire, Ohio.
MAYOR ‘MOOSE’
The village of Bellaire is still staggering after three big blows to its economy since the early 1990s.
The Bellaire Bridge was closed in 1991, and the bypass for Ohio Route 7 was opened a few years later. Then, while Republican John Kasich was Ohio‘s governor between 2011 and 2019, the Ohio Legislature approved consecutive 20 percent budget decreases in the state’s local contributions to take away thousands of dollars from former industrial towns along the Ohio River.
While communities like Martins Ferry, Shadyside, and Yorkville have somewhat managed, the village of Bellaire has struggled so much that its employees were forced to spread street salt by hand last month because the spreaders are, well, in need of repair.
Enter Robert “Moose” Dodrill, a Bellaire native who ran unopposed for the Mayor’s position in November who already has held a “Town Hall” style meeting with residents to ask for their support with revitalization. “Moose” has his challenges, that’s for sure, but he’s determined to do right by his hometown.
The Municipal Building in St. Clairsville is located near the Belmont County Courthouse.
ADA ACCESSIBLE?
Curbs have been corrected, and ramps have been added to many buildings throughout the Upper Ohio Valley so property owners and local governments can meet compliance specifications included in the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.
But challenges remain at “City Hall” in both St. Clairsville and Martins Ferry.
St. C Mayor Kathryn Thalman, in fact, was unable to access her office following a surgical procedure in 2025 because only steps permit access into the municipal offices at 100 North Market Street. According to media reports over the past year, the city’s elected officials have been evaluating new venues for public meetings to offer better ADA access.
The same is true in Martins Ferry, according to City Auditor Jack Regis. Regis, a former mayor who was a council member for more than 40 years, has conducted a lot of research into ramp construction as well as the purchase of an exterior elevator similar to what the City of Barnesville added to its municipal building several years ago.
Oklahoma native Andrew Griffin was arrested in mid-February and was extradited to Belmont County in mid-March.
CAPITAL MURDER x 2
All of a sudden, a grand jury in Belmont County issued 14 indictments back in February for an Oklahoma native about three-and-a-half years after Thomas and Angela Strussion were murdered in their Belmont, Ohio, home, and the death penalty trial for 33-year-old Andrew Griffin has been continued and a new trial date will be announced by Judge Chris Berhalter on January 30th.
Griffin, once a business partner with the Strussions’ Salsa Joe’s restaurant businesses, was arrested in Hilo, Hawaii, in February and has been incarcerated in the Belmont County Jail since his extradition was completed on March 14th.
The corner of 22nd and Chapline streets is cleared now, but in a few years, the WVU Medicine Regional Cancer Center will continue the tradition of healthcare on the property.
A CENTER FOR HOPE
It was announced in late October 2022.
A new cancer research and treatment center – with more than 100 employees managing the 270,000 square feet facility – will open at some point in 2028 on the property that was home to the Ohio Valley Medical Center for decades.
The City of Wheeling took possession of the four acres in June 2020, renovated the former Ohio Valley Professional Center along Chapline Street into a 30,000-square-foot headquarters for the municipality’s police department, and attempted to lease portions of the property before entering into a partnership with WVU Health System for the $7.5 million demolition project and the construction of the new cancer center.
The 122-room hotel would feature much more than lodging because the plan calls for condos, entertainment spaces, a rooftop bar, and a coffee shop and restaurant on the first floor.
NEW HOTEL?
Wheeling residents Barry and Lisa Allen announced intentions to construct a new hotel on the corner of 14th and Water streets during a press conference in late May 2024, and, according to a WTRF report by reporter D.K. Wright on May 21, 2024, “Allen remains confident in its potential and anticipates a 2026 opening of the facility.”
While that is no longer the construction timeline, there was movement with the project when an original proposition was read during Wheeling's City Council meeting during the first week of the new year. The proposition was to approve the motion to hire M&G Architect and Engineers to plan the demolition of facilities in the 1400 block of Main Street.
The new building for National Equipment is not expected to be completed until later this year.
As for the developers, Allen explained to LEDE News in late 2025 that the “financial stack” for the $63 million project remains in development.
These renderings of the McLure Hotel were developed by convicted felon Jeffrey Morris and by employees of the now-defunct Roxby Development.
OLD HOTEL
The owner of the McLure Hotel is Frances Garey, and she’s been trying to sell the lodge in downtown Wheeling for nearly a decade after purchasing it in 2007 during the gas and oil rush in the Upper Ohio Valley. The hotel was at or near full occupancy for several years while out-of-town drillers, frackers, and pipeliners were working in the region, but then she tried to sell it to Moundsville native and supposed real estate developer Jeffrey Morris in 2021.
That deal, however, went sour once Morris failed to pay the mortgage for more than a year and was then convicted on federal wire and tax fraud charges in September 2024 and sentenced to five years in a federal facility in Pennsylvania.
The McLure, a hotel that dates back to the Civil War and the creation of the state of West Virginia, has been on the block since, and a potential buyer backed out – according to The Intelligencer – in mid-April 2025.
Plus, the hotel was shuttered by order from the Ohio County Health Department in November 2024 and has not reopened to residents since.
The pollution control plant rests along the Ohio River, and it was flooding in April that damaged the facility. (Image: Google Earth)
EW, THAT SMELL
The City of Wheeling has sold the bonds, and the big flush has been ordered for Wheeling’s sewage treatment plant in Center Wheeling.
According to City Manager Bob Herron, the facility’s upgrades will cost a little more than $2 million and will involve the digester tanks at the plant that need to be emptied and cleaned every 10 to 15 years.
The city manager has explained to the media that it has been about 15 years since the process has taken place, and he expects it will be completed in the near future.
The Wheeling Miners will return to Wesbanco Arena this spring and summer for eight home games in the AAL.
MINING FOR GOLD
The Wheeling Miners will return to the turf at Wesbanco Arena once again and will host eight home games in eight weeks in downtown Wheeling.
Ownership of the Miners hopes to name the team's new head coach in the near future so the players and staff can prepare to win the franchise’s second championship in three years when the team joins the American Arena League for 2026. The schedule features eight consecutive home games, a streak that will begin May 2nd against the Jersey Bearcats and conclude with the postseason’s first round on June 27th.
Downtown Wheeling is very different today than it was in the early 1900s, and changes continue to take place.
DOWNTOWN SKYLINE
The DiCarlo Building, a structure under construction along Main Street for a little more than a year, and will feature four floors of condominiums when completed, is filling the land gap left by the demolition of the former Reichart/Fort Henry Business Center building.
But it also gives reason to wonder what’s next for several other structures still standing along Main and Market streets in downtown Wheeling.
While redevelopment is taking place with five buildings along Market Street between 14th and 16th streets, and with the former Wheeling Eagles and Braunlich’s locations on Main Street, hopes remain high for the Absure Tower and for the structures where Kaufman’s, the Outdoor Store, Big Bertha’s, McGhee Office Supply, and Chris Miller Furniture did business for decades.
The project on Moundsville's new Municipal Building started in 2022, but significant delays have taken place ever since.
MOUNDSVILLE MUNICIPAL
The digging started in mid-2022 on a 25,000-square-foot municipal building, but the project was halted in 2024 by a construction company’s bankruptcy.
That’s the bad news, but it’s also old news.
The good news? Construction restarted in 2025, and City of Moundsville officials now expect the project to be finished in the early spring.
Steve Coon from Coon Restoration & Sealant still owns the former Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel building.
WHEELING PITT LOFTS
When Steve Coon first set up shop in Wheeling, he and his company – Coon Restoration & Sealant – were praised for their work dismantling, restoring, and preserving the front façade of the Capitol Theatre, and the owner promised that there was much more to come.
And that included the former Wheeling-Pitt headquarters in the heart of downtown Wheeling, but the past year of silence has left city officials wondering if his “Historic Loft” project will continue in the future.
Initially, Coon explained that rising interest rates were delaying the construction of more than 100 one-and two-bedroom apartments inside the historic, 12-floor building once named the Schmulbach Building and known in the early 1900s as the “tallest skyscraper in West Virginia.
The interior, according to Coon in 2022, has been gutted and is ready for construction to begin, but the developer has yet to pull the trigger.
Coon did buy out his former partner, Dr. John Johnson from Columbus, Ohio, in 2025, and city officials remain hopeful they will see some movement with the development this year, especially since the Federal Reserve implemented three interest rate cuts in 2025.
Clay School was constructed into a hillside along Wood Street in East Wheeling.
CLAY SCHOOL DEMO
The school closed in the early 1990s and was sold to a man who failed to make his science/community center dream come true before donating it to the city.
For more than a few years, Wheeling’s Council approved surveys, block parties, and feasibility studies to determine the large structure’s future use, and the final decision recommended by Turning Point advisors was to demolish it and redevelop the property.
The $500,000 asbestos remediation was completed in December, and the demolition will take place early in 2026.
The primaries in both West Virginia and Ohio are in May, and November 3rd is set for the general election.
ELECTION YEAR IN WV
It will be a mid-term election on the federal level with every seat in the House of Representatives up for grabs and 33 of the 100 seats in the United States Senate will be contested.
That includes Rep. Riley Moore (R-2) and Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV). Moorse has filed for re-election to the House, and Capito faces primary challenges from within her party, including state Senator Tom Willis, Alexander Gaaserud, and former state delegate Derrick Evans.
Of course, all seats out of 100 in the state House of Delegates are up, and there are 17 of 34 positions open in the Senate and 13 Republican primaries on the spring ballot, including in the 1st Senatorial District, with challenging Republican Joe Eddy contesting incumbent Sen. Laura Wakim Chapman (R-1).
Locally, a number of county positions will be on the 2026 ballot, and the state’s Republican Primary remains open to GOP members only.
