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Opening a new frontier

Developer plans to market former WSX land ‘aggressively’

LOOKING TOWARD THE FUTURE — Officials with the Frontier Group of Companies, the City of Weirton and other guests are pictured, Wednesday, on property which once was the site of Weirton Steel Corp.’s basic oxygen plant. The BOP was demolished in March 2019 as part of the Frontier Group’s efforts to prepare much of the community’s former steel-making property for redevelopment. -- Craig Howell

WEIRTON — In February 2017, more than 1,100 acres of former steel-making property in Weirton were purchased by the Frontier Group of Companies with the intent of redeveloping the land and preparing it for new business opportunities.

“In three years’ time, we’ve covered a lot of ground,” Rob Zuchlewski, chief operating officer of the Frontier Group, said of the company’s efforts since then.

The first move was the sale of the former Central Machine Shop facility to Bidell Gas Compression, followed in March 2017 with the beginning of remediation efforts.

Those measures include asbestos abatement, universal waste collection and disposal, contaminated soils cleanup and utility relocation activities.

David Franjoine, president of the Frontier Group, noted the Buffalo, N.Y. company is involved in similar redevelopment efforts throughout the Ohio Valley and across the United States, clearing industrial sites and preparing them for new uses.

“The position the city is in is the same as many in the country,” Franjoine said.

Frontier’s plans have included keeping some buildings officials believe can be turned around, but demolishing many of the older structures, including the blast furnaces and the basic oxygen plant facilities.

The 300 acres included at the Weirton Frontier Crossings project will be able to accommodate a variety of industrial properties with operations including midstream oil and gas, general manufacturing, consumer goods production, multi-modal transloading, warehousing and distribution centers.

“We’re going to start showing this aggressively,” Franjoine said.

It will include more than 10 miles of rail access, 33 permitted barge cells on the Ohio River, large capacity utility services and level property which has been monitored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as part of cleanup operations.

Another component is the planned construction of a new industrial road system, with funds from a federal B.U.I.L.D. grant, in order to improve access to the property. The city is in the process of applying for the federal transportation grant, which would go toward the $20 million cost.

“It will be about a year to build,” Craig Slater, vice president and general counsel of Frontier, said of the planned road.

The road project will include the introduction of a roundabout system, to be located in the area of the Route 2 and Pennsylvania Avenue intersection.

“That’s going to be the entryway into Weirton, as well as the entryway into the development,” City Manager Joe DiBartolomeo said. “It will open up the entire facility.”

Mayor Harold Miller said the continuing redevelopment by the Frontier Group is just one component of bringing a new future to Weirton, noting expansion in local retail and the city’s plans to invest in its water and sanitary treatment systems.

“It took a while to get people to see the vision,” Miller said.

Ward 1 Councilman Tim Connell, whose ward includes the Frontier Crossings development site, agreed, saying the community is on the mend, and there are opportunities to create a new, vibrant future.

“Weirton was just sitting idly by. We were letting ourselves die,” Connell said. “We’re open for business.”

Company officials report the remaining structures set for demolition should be completed and cleared by the end of this year.

(Howell can be contacted at chowell@weirtondailytimes.com, and followed via Twitter @CHowellWDT)

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