WHEELING, W.Va. (WTRF) – Grow Ohio Valley was approved for $3.2 million dollars to refurbish and add on to the Nelson Jordan Center and the surrounding area where the Clay School resides, and the development of East Wheeling has been an important topic of discussion. 

Last year, the City of Wheeling took ownership of the Clay School and they read a proposal for an agreement with Tipping Point to provide the city with a Clay School Conceptual Redevelopment Plan at the last council meeting. 

Mayor Glenn Elliott says the building is holding back development in East Wheeling right now and there are two options: 

Tearing down the building and building something new or rehabbing what is there. 

”Clay School has been sort of an albatross holding down East Wheeling now for several years really going back to the 1990s. I know it was purchased before with a lot of lofty intentions that never came to be and now it’s the city’s problem to deal with and we have to find a solution for Clay School that is good for that community because it’s hard to have a development around a building with broken windows it just looks like it is in love or cared for anymore. So, we need a solution for it so hopefully this gives us a path forward.”

Mayor Glenn Elliott – City of Wheeling

If eventually passed, this study will send engineers to the building to test the steel and masonry that remains and come up with a plan to either utilize historic and new market tax credits to make the project make sense as a rehab or start something new altogether.