WHEELING, W.Va. — Govenor Jim Justice joined West Virginia Tourism Secretary Chelsea Ruby and other officials in Wheeling to present a $4.4 million AML Economic Revitalization grant in support of the Wheeling Gateway Center project, which will serve as a new state welcome center.
The Wheeling Gateway Center project will transform the former Wheeling Inn property into 20,000-square-foot visitors center on Wheeling’s Main Street at the base of the famous Wheeling Suspension Bridge. The project intends to equip the welcome center with retail shops, event spaces, a heritage museum, a restaurant, office spaces, and more.
Ruby says the idea has been talked about for a long time in an effort to show travelers a good welcome to the state.
“It’s something we’ve been talking about for years and has turned out to be an excellent partnership where we’re going to bring people in,” Ruby said Tuesday. “Even if they’re only stopping for 5-10 minutes, we’re going to give them an experience. We’re going to give them a true West Virginia welcome.”
Ruby says tourism is growing all throughout the state, but the Wheeling area is specifically succeeding.
“As you all know, tourism in West Virginia is growing by leaps and bounds. It’s growing in this area specifically, and you all have a lot of different projects in this county and in this region going on,” Ruby said.
Ruby also says the growth in tourism stems from Justice’s vision, and the upgrading of welcome centers is a key part of investing for the future.
“All this comes back to the Governor’s belief that we have to invest. We have to tell our story, and we have to get more people here and then we have to invest and invest in our infrastructure,” Ruby said. “Investing in a welcome center would have been unheard of years ago, but here we are today upgrading all of our welcome centers and investing all over the place.”
This is officially the first time the state has partnered with a local community to build a state welcome center.