WESTOVER – During Monday’s meeting of Westover City Council, Public Works Director Jason Stinespring said a plan is in the works to construct single-family homes on the Morrison Street property of the former Westover Elementary School.
Stinespring raised the point in response to rumors circulating on social media that the site was to be the future home of a 120-bed homeless shelter.
“Let me just officially put that to bed. That’s obviously not true,” he said.
According to the Monongalia County Assessor’s office, Vic Solomon has owned the property, totaling 0.73 acres, since purchasing it from the Monongalia County Board of Education for $106,000 in September 2006.
Stinespring told The Dominion Post that the property has now either been purchased or is in the process of being purchased by investors interested in developing affordable, single-family homes.
“I don’t have much more detail on that end of it, but the only thing that can be built there is single family homes because of the zoning district. So, that’s what it will be,” he said. “They haven’t decided on how many. I think there’s space for eight, but I think they’re looking to maybe do six so the yards would be just a little bit bigger.”
Demolishing the dilapidated school and returning the property to productive use has been a long-stated goal of the city.
City officials received an administrative search warrant to enter and inspect the building in August 2023 on the grounds that the structure had been vacant for at least 15 years and was in an obvious state of disrepair.
According to court documents, the inspection noted that water was entering the building causing the floors to rot and buckle. It was further noted that loose bricks on the building’s exterior presented a safety hazard to the community.
Following the inspection, the city attempted to broker a deal with Solomon whereby he would deed over half of the property containing the school and the city would take responsibility for its demolition, but the sides were ultimately unable to reach an agreement.
“That didn’t go anywhere. We were interested in putting a park in there or something along those lines. It’s a long, convoluted history, but unfortunately that did not go through. But the school itself was rotten, so we proceeded with the demolition order,” Stinespring said. “My understanding is [Solomon] was going to auction the property, but these folks came in and made him an offer.”
Stinespring said he didn’t know exactly when the old building would come down, but said additional information about the property’s future will be provided to the city in the coming weeks.
“I’ve been in talks with them a good bit on their house plan and what they’re doing,” he said. “I think they’ll have a full plan to present to us here very shortly.”
In other news from Monday’s meeting, Stinespring provided updates on a pair of projects underway in the WestRidge development.
“Panera [Bread] has finished the outside stonework. They only need to asphalt the parking lot to be able to open. I will be there Wednesday morning with the state fire marshal. What I can do at that time if everything is good is give them a conditional [certificate of occupancy] that allows them to stock the restaurant and train their employees,” he said. “They won’t be able to open until the blacktop is laid down, but again, that’s supposed to happen any time now.”
Meanwhile, at the nearby Dave & Buster’s site, framing is complete and work on the plumbing and mechanical components is expected to begin soon.
“They were hoping initially to be ready by August, but they’re thinking it’s going to be a little bit longer. There’s just so much inside detail work in those places that they said it’s going to take a little longer, but hopefully by September they’re ready to go around the time the students are back,” he said.
Closer to the city’s core, Stinespring said a business license has been issued for City Electric Supply to operate in the Commerce Drive location formerly occupied by King’s Tire Service.
