photo by: Joselyn King

Lori Jones, executive director of YWCA Wheeling, shows one of the newly renovated bedrooms at the facility.

WHEELING — A $10 million renovation at YWCA Wheeling’s downtown building has been going on since May 2023, and it’s now anticipated to continue until spring.

The work was supposed to have been completed two months ago, but construction now isn’t expected to be finished until at least March, according to executive director Lori Jones.

The good news is that residents displaced by the construction — who have been living out of makeshift bedrooms in the building’s gymnasium since October — could return to newly redone sleeping areas perhaps as soon as the end of this coming week, she added.

Delays resulted as some of the subcontractors had difficulty with finding enough plumbers and electricians to get needed work done, Jones explained.

There had been plans to have separate crews work day and evening shifts, but there weren’t enough employees for a second shift.

“But we are within two weeks of moving people back onto the fifth floor,” she said. “There are some electrical things that they are trying to fix.”

Jones said she expected city inspectors to soon be on site to give their final approval for occupancy of the new areas.

“Maybe by (next) Monday we can start moving people back in,” she continued.

Work delays affected the YWCA Wheeling’s tax credits, but carrying the project into 2025 “made sense” so the YWCA wouldn’t lose credits for work not yet completed, Jones explained.

There is still a security and intercom system that needs to be installed, and the completion of some of the bathrooms, she continued. There are ventilation pieces that need to be put in, and many areas that need to be painted.

Fourth-floor bedrooms need to be finished, and those fifth-floor bedrooms that have just been completed need a good cleaning before they can be occupied.

“It’s that stuff that keeps us from being complete,” Jones said.

Meanwhile, the new heaters and radiators in the building are working very well, as is the new elevator, she reports. The YWCA Wheeling also plans to start work this year on a second facility — “Cathy’s Haven” — that will serve as a place for women recently incarcerated and those recovering from drug addiction.

Jones expects that project to go more quickly as it will be a new build at 24th and Chapline streets in Wheeling.

The popular YWCA Wheeling boutique is presently closed at the main building. The building’s former pool has been filled in to make way for a future boutique space in the basement, but that area is presently being used as a staging area as construction continues throughout the building.

The boutique won’t reopen until after construction is completed, Jones said.