WHEELING — The permanent closure and looming demolition of the Wheeling Inn was celebrated as a huge step forward for the city on Wednesday, when officials from the Wheeling Convention and Visitors Bureau touted the beginning of a new chapter for the Friendly City’s downtown.

On Tuesday, the CVB announced its purchase of the longtime hotel at 949 Main St. — also known as the Knights Inn of Wheeling — for $1.7 million from previous owner Nalani LLC. The purchase of the Wheeling Inn came while the property was temporarily closed after the city declared the hotel a public nuisance last year in the wake of a barrage of police calls to service and criminal activity that had been documented at or around the site in recent years.

Across Main Street from the hotel site, the Carl family has invested a significant amount of money and effort into revitalizing the building that houses The Bridge Tavern & Grill. The family spoke before Wheeling City Council last year supporting the city’s efforts to declare the hotel a public nuisance.

Doug Carl of the Bridge Tavern, who was on hand during Wednesday’s announcement at the site, applauded the CVB for its proactive efforts to help pave a new future for the city’s gateway.

“I think it shows great vision — I think it’s a great investment,” Carl said, noting that he grew up in Wheeling and — like many other local people — remember the days when downtown Wheeling was bustling with activity. “With this project, it can help Wheeling turn the page to a new chapter of viability for downtown, and that to me is the most exciting thing. The vision of the future, not the past, is exciting to me.”

The Wheeling Inn property is surrounded by other major investments — from the continuing upgrades to the Capitol Theatre to private projects such as the revitalized Bridge Tavern & Grill building, the Woda-Cooper Companies’ new Doris on Main apartment complex, the state of West Virginia’s Wheeling Downtown Streetscape Project and multimillion-dollar rehabilitation of the historic Wheeling Suspension Bridge and the recently completed phases of the Interstate 70 Bridge project, including the recently painted and renovated Fort Henry Bridge.

Representatives of the CVB, Wheeling Heritage, RED (the Regional Economic Development Partnership), the Friends of Wheeling and other local entities gathered Wednesday morning at the site, where CVB Executive Director Frank O’Brien announced details of their plans to clean up the property.

“It’s not a common thing for a convention and visitors bureau — which is primarily a destination marketing agency to get involved in tourism infrastructure,” O’Brien said, noting that this investment can be viewed as one that is similar to the CVB’s purchase of the Capitol Music Hall in 2009. “Potentially, that could have been the biggest money pit in the world.”

But the CVB had a vision for that landmark’s future, revitalized the historic venue and transformed it into a viable facility now known as the Capitol Theatre, which draws 55,000 or more people from outside the area into the downtown market. In 2019, the Capitol was officially debt-free and today is operating as a community asset, O’Brien said.

“We look at this acquisition as being similar to that,” he said of the Wheeling Inn, which was built in the 1960s and has operated as a hotel until last year’s nuisance action shuttered its operation. “We believe this can be another example of good partnerships. When groups work together for a common cause, they can make a significant impact on the community, drive the tourism economy as well as improve the quality of life for the people who live here.”

This venture has already been a collaborative effort, O’Brien noted. Wheeling Heritage had already completed a feasibility study and viability study on the Wheeling Inn property about three and a half years ago. Wheeling Heritage actually had an option to purchase the property, but parties had never settled on a price, he said. The CVB used their completed studies as part of their due diligence in researching the purchase, then worked with RED to navigate through the financial packaging needed to acquire the property. Community Bank — the same bank that helped the CVB finance the purchase of the Capitol — provided the loan needed to make the $1.7 million purchase, which will be paid back through the hotel-motel tax — or bed tax — which generates money that fund the CVB.

O’Brien said the CVB has the funds both to buy and demolish the building. Demolition is expected to take place as soon as possible, and officials hoped the site could be cleared before the end of the year.

A new visitor’s center is envisioned as a long-term goal for the site. O’Brien said the first step in the process of revitalizing the property was the purchase itself. Now that the property is under the ownership of the CVB, officials can explore options for potential funding for future phases. Some money is already available for asbestos abatement and demolition, but it would be unreasonable to speculate about timelines or future funding for the proposed development.

“We visualize a Wheeling Gateway Visitor-Welcome-Cultural Center — that’s what we’re thinking about here for this project,” O’Brien said, noting that 130,000 people drive through Wheeling every day, and CVB officials hope to help turn some of those passersby into visitors.

A new visitor’s center could be a gateway to the downtown area that could also house the CVB offices in the future.

“Currently we are located inside the Robert C. Byrd Intermodal Center on the first floor, and we do have what we believe is a museum-quality visitor’s center,” O’Brien said. “However, the people who find us there are lost.”

Wheeling Mayor Glenn Elliott noted that there has been interest on the state level in creating a new West Virginia Welcome Center in Wheeling since one currently does not exist for eastbound motorists traveling on Interstate 70. He indicated that the site could be the perfect location for such a center, which could bring significant state dollars into the mix for development.

Turning the property into a green space would be a huge step forward, officials said, noting that they planned to take that step as soon as possible while putting pen to paper on future revitalization phases.

“It’s going to change this gateway and change this part of downtown Wheeling in a huge way,” O’Brien said, noting that the site by default can showcase the Suspension Bridge, the Ohio River and the primary entrance to Wheeling’s downtown.

Crews from Triton Construction Inc. of St. Albans and their subcontractors have been working on the West Virginia Division of Highway’s Wheeling Downtown Streetscape Project in this area and are expected to continue work over the next two years on the transformative $32 million undertaking. Triton had entered into an agreement with the former Wheeling Inn owners to use a portion of the parking lot at the hotel as a staging area for construction crews, vehicles and equipment, and O’Brien said he expected the contractor to continue using a portion of the lots, even while demolition of the structure takes place.

“We want to turn into a green space as quickly as possible,” O’Brien said. “We don’t want to oversell and under-deliver. But we look forward to really helping, together, leave a legacy well beyond us. It’s going to be something that everybody in this community can be proud of. It’s going to change — I think in a positive way — people’s impression of the city.”

Now that the building has a new owner and is slated to be razed, the nuisance action against the Wheeling Inn is expected to be closed.