Photo by Alex Meyer The city of Wheeling is considering spending $534,000 to purchase this former warehouse on 19th Street for a possible new public safety building.

WHEELING — The property where Wheeling officials are hoping to construct a new public safety building could be sold to city taxpayers for more than 10 times its appraised value, county tax records show.

If City Council approves construction of a public safety building at a site on 19th Street at an upcoming meeting, Wheeling’s citizens would purchase the property at a price of $534,000, payable in annual installments over 10 years, Mayor Glenn Elliott said Tuesday. The value of the land and vacant warehouse at the site was appraised for tax purposes at $43,300 last year, according to the Ohio County Assessor’s Office.

The property is owned by Wheeling resident Frank Calabrese.

“This transaction would only be consummated if and to the extent City Council approves a new public safety building on the 19th and Jacob Street site,” Elliott said.

City officials said leaders at the Regional Economic Development Partnership, which conducted the property negotiations, would be able to explain the difference between the proposed sale price and the county’s appraised value. RED Executive Director Don Rigby did not immediately return a request for comment Tuesday.

The property purchase would include the main site at 58 19th St., as well as triangle-shaped properties across the street that are adjacent to W.Va. 2, Elliott said. Those properties were appraised at $18,000 last year. All properties are owned by Americo Inc., which is owned by Calabrese.

The $53,400 annual payments would go toward “a charitable foundation” of Calabrese’s designation, Elliott said.

Calabrese previously said the money would go toward his own foundation, Imagine Just Peace. He declined to comment on the property purchase Tuesday.

The city is considering constructing a one-story, 52,000-square-foot public safety building on the 19th Street property to provide space for its police and fire departments.

Building construction would cost $12.5 million and the total cost, including demolition and remediation, would be $14.5 million, officials said previously.

The appraised value of the land at the 19th Street site was $19,800 and the appraised value of the vacant warehouse was $23,500, records show. Appraisals by the Ohio County Assessor’s Office involve determining current market value, or what a seller would receive for it on the private market.

In addition, the assessed value of the main 19th Street property was about $26,000 in 2018, according to the assessor’s office. In West Virginia, assessed value is equal to 60 percent of the appraised value.

Americo Inc. purchased the main property for $40,000 in 1997, records show.