Weirton BDC Purchases Brooke Glass Building

BROOKE COUNTY, W.Va. — There were two big announcements in Wellsburg on Monday, the first about a program that will help with redevelopment on Brownfields sites in the Ohio River Valley and the second about the purchase of an historic glass factory. Brooke Glass was previously owned by the Rithner family until it was sold Monday to the like the Business Development Corporation of Weirton for redevelopment in the Wellsburg area.

The factory, which is situated right along the Ohio River, has been a part of the fabric of the city for generations. We feel basically honored that they’re able to pass this on to somebody like the Business Development Corporation to bring it back to life in some type of use, not necessarily the building itself, but the site, said Marvin Six, president of BDC of Weirton.

Officials from the Business Development Corporation and the Urban Redevelopment Authority say this isn’t just an old building that will soon be torn down for redevelopment. We’re very excited, said Ryan Weld, chairman of Urban Redevelopment Authority. This project represents two years worth of work on behalf of the Urban Redevelopment Authority in Wellsburg, the Mayor of Wellsburg, the BDC, so the result we wanted two years ago is finally here.

A number of people in the community gathered near the factory not only to celebrate the purchase of it, but to also discuss a site-ready grant award that will make it possible for the site to be cleaned up. Its very exciting, said Pat Forde, BDC executive director. And the announcement of the grant award, coupled with our ability to finally come to terms with the Rithner family to buy it, is very timely because now we will have the necessary resources to actually work on the back end to help ready this site for development a lot quicker than otherwise without their assistance.

Said Brooke County Commissioner Tim Ennis: This will enable us to come in and bring in a new business for this site and bring jobs and increase the tax base for the people of Brooke County. Officials from Urban Redevelopment said the end of this project is just the beginning of another one for Wellsburg. They said there are several sites in the area they would like to redevelop in the near future.

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