Brownfields
Success Story
From Abandoned School
to Main Event
Weirton, West Virginia
Year after year, children attended the Cove Elementary School in downtown
Weirton, West Virginia as their parents worked at nearby Weirton Steel. But
the decline of the steel industry in the Northern Panhandle of West Virginia
coincided with the decline of the school. After educating students since the
1920s, the Cove Elementary officially closed its doors in 1991.
The building sat vacant for nearly two decades as the City of Weirton
considered the best use for the property. All manner of ideas—from turning
it into a museum highlighting the region's steel-producing history to
renovating it as senior housing to knocking it all down and paving it as a
parking lot—were considered until the city finally chose to repurpose it as a
community event center. But environmental concerns on the property stalled
redevelopment plans.
The Cleanup
In 2005, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) awarded the
Brooke-Hancock-Jefferson Metropolitan Planning and Development Council
a Brownfield Assessment Grant to help determine what contamination, if
any, might be present. A Phase I Environmental Site Assessment revealed
asbestos. To help address this, EPA awarded the City of Weirton a Brownfield
Cleanup Grant in 2009. After remediation was completed, the Cove School
was demolished and construction of the event center began.
The Benefits
EPA funding proved to be the catalyst for repurposing the site. The Weirton
Event Center opened in 2012, creating five full-time jobs to oversee daily
operations at the facility. The center has become a gathering place for
Weirton residents and is used for all types of community events and outdoor
concerts. Events take place both in the main building and on the outdoor field,
where a free concert is held each week in the summer.
&EPA
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
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The Cove Elementary School in Weirton,
West Virginia (pictured here in 2005) sat
vacant for 20 years before the property
was redeveloped.
EPA Grant Recipients:
Brooke-Hancock-Jefferson Metropolitan
Planning and Development Council,
City of Weirton
EPA Grant Types:
Brownfield Assessment,
Brownfield Cleanup
Former Use: School
Current Use: Event Center
When the recession hit
and we were opening and
marketing a new venue, we
didn't know what the result
would be. When hundreds
of people came out that first
night, we knew we'd made
the right investment for our
region.
Danny Greathouse,
Former Hancock
County Commissioner
(via West Virginia Executive.)
For more information:
Visit the EPA Brownfields website at
www.epa.gov/brownfields or contact
Joe Nowak at 215-814-3303 or
Nowak.Joseph@epa.gov.
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October 20T?

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