Ohio Valley Correspondent

WHEELING — West Virginia Northern Community College plans to buy property in downtown Wheeling being vacated by the Straub automotive dealership.

The $1.2 million deal will give WVNCC title to a key property in its bid to create a more campus-like environment in Wheeling. Northern’s board still must sign off on the acquisition, but WVNCC President Martin Olshinsky said if all goes as planned classes could be meeting there as early as fall 2010.

“We can’t afford to let this opportunity pass us by,” he said. “In the long run, it will pay dividends for the college and the region.”

The Ohio County Development Authority, which took title to the property as condition of Straub’s move to the Highlands, has already approved the sale.

“When we made our deal with Straub’s on the lot they will be building on, there was credit given to them … like a trade-in for the property” in downtown Wheeling, Ohio County Commissioner Randy Wharton said. “It helped them, it helped us, it helped the college and it helped downtown Wheeling. Doing it the way we did, it’s not going to be sitting empty — the community college will be ready to move forward (once the deal closes).”

Wharton said Northern’s interest in the Straub property “developed as soon as they knew we would have possession of it.”

Olshinsky said the 22,000-plus square feet of building space can be used in a variety of ways — for programs like heating and air conditioning, which they already offer, as well as new training opportunities in high demand areas such as sustainable energy, industrial maintenance, welding and diesel mechanics.

Some space also can be set aside for incubators to encourage and nurture development of new business, he said.

“The building is an auto dealership so the floors are wide open,” he said. “For us it won’t be a major retrofit because the type of training we’re going to do there lends itself to wide open spaces — actually, they’re preferred.”