West Virginia University at Parkersburg President Torie Jackson looks over plans with Bob Cooper, executive director of facilities and maintenance management for WVUP, as they take a tour of the former Ohio Valley University Stott Administration Building where WVUP is currently renovating the building into its new Innovation and Technology Center. (Photo by Brett Dunlap)

VIENNA — It is all about the vision of what the new West Virginia University at Parkersburg Innovation and Technology Center can be in helping the area grow with new educational opportunities.

Renovation work is continuing on the Stott Administration Building on the former campus of Ohio Valley University to turn it into the new Innovation and Technology Center (ITC), which is expected to have its first-phase open and operating in this fall.

“A lot happened last year and a lot will happen this year,” WVUP President Torie Jackson said. “You have to be able to see what the vision will be.

“We have to do it in phases because it is huge.”

Over the past year, work was done to be able to heat the building and to replace seven roofs to stop leaks so the interior work could be focused on. Crews have also worked on getting the asbestos out of the building and more.

A classroom space that is under construction at the former Ohio Valley University Stott Administration Building where West Virginia University at Parkersburg is doing renovation work to create its new Innovation and Technology Center. (Photo by Brett Dunlap)

Various construction crews are working on the Stott’s Building, tearing down walls, enlarging rooms, upgrading electrical work (which cost $800,000 to do), replacing the building’s plumbing, doing elevator upgrades and more. The work is being done to create classrooms, conference rooms and office space as well as give the facility an updated look.

OVU shut its doors in December 2021, amid financial and academic struggles. The WVUP Foundation announced in the Summer of 2023 it was purchasing the 225.22-acre property for $4.6 million as part of a $10 million gift from The Ross Foundation.

The renovations that are underway will be getting classroom space and offices in place to begin class offerings during the Fall 2025 semester.

The first phase will be moving Workforce and Economic Development (WED) (which houses many short-term programs) and the college’s Computer Information Sciences Division to include their Computer Science/Computer Information Technology degrees, as well as the Bachelor of Applied Technology in Cyber Security and Network Administration to the ITC, Jackson said. They are planning to start with four classrooms dedicated to the computer programs and three dedicated to short-term programs.

Those short-term programs could include things like Community Health Worker, Certified Medical Assistant, Dental Assistant, Phlebotomy, Manufacturing Production Operator, Intro to MIG and Stick Welding, HVAC Beginner’s Course, Nail Technician, Aluminum Welding and Peer Recovery Support Specialist that the college offers.

Construction work being done of the new Innovation Lab at West Virginia University at Parkersburg’s new Innovation and Technology Center. Crews are taking down walls and expanding spaces. The Innovation Lab will be used for courses in the engineering technology program. The Innovation Lab will house a variety of equipment for use in courses at WVUP. (Photo by Brett Dunlap)

The WED location will have six offices. They will also start with five faculty offices, as well as a few administrative offices at the ITC.

A podcast studio is part of the first phase and will be completed when the WED classrooms are finished as well.

“There will be student interns who will be working with businesses in the community to do various marketing projects, podcasting, graphic design, copy writing and more,” said WVUP Foundation Director Olivia Reeder. “We are going to create a simulated workplace environment for media and marketing students and students focusing on that.”

A second phase, occurring simultaneously, will be setting up the new daycare facility in the former OVU Library space, Jackson said. Once completed, the daycare facility could eventually care for up to 120 children.

Plans are in place to leave OVU’s chapel space intact as a meeting space and to be rented out for weddings. Jackson said the old OVU kitchen could be updated at some point into a commercial kitchen facility and they are looking for someone who might be able to convert the former cafeteria into a restaurant.

Construction is underway on the Workforce and Economic Development Offices at West Virginia University at Parkersburg’s new Innovation and Technology Center in the former Ohio Valley University’s Stott Administration Building. These are among some of the spaces to be ready by the start of the Fall 2025 semester. (Photo by Brett Dunlap)

The university is working with a company to create an “additive and subtractive manufacturing” facility in the old OVU gym.

“This will be a location with state-of-the-art 3-D printers and metal printers to create products,” Jackson said.

Work is also underway on the center’s Innovation Lab located on the ground floor near the old gym.

“The Innovation Lab will house a variety of equipment for use in courses at WVU Parkersburg, to include engineering technologies,” Jackson said. “That equipment will include a laser system, plasma table, 3-D printers, pneumatic square corner notcher, an extractor, a milling machine, etc.”

Crews are tearing out a number of old bathtubs that were in place when the facility originally operated as a seminary years ago.

The hallway at the West Virginia University at Parkersburg’s new Innovation and Technology Center in the former Ohio Valley University’s Stott Administration Building. The hallway is near where a childcare/daycare facility will be placed that has the potential to eventually serve 120 children. (Photo by Brett Dunlap)

There is already interest in a business setting up at the ITC. The university will have several locations for leasing at the site, both inside and outside, Jackson said.

The university is looking at expanding parking, creating entry ways to the facility as well as a playground for the daycare facility and outside basketball and pickleball courts in the near future.

The university will be putting work for the exterior of the building out to bid in late February or March, Jackson said.

There was around 120 acres of land near the campus that was annexed into the City of Vienna.

A new road would be built at the end of 12th Street between Lowes and Sam’s Club in Vienna that would connect to the campus. The road they are proposing would allow future housing, mixed use, retail and more in that area as well as be accessible by the local bus system.

University officials recently announced the WVUP Foundation is willing to convey a number of acres to the Wood County Board of Education, including OVU’s former soccer and baseball fields, to build a new elementary school for the district. School officials are still considering the offer.

On what was happening at the ITC site, Jackson said “excited” was not a big enough word.

“What we are doing here has the potential to change Vienna for generations, because it is a project that allows for a housing development over time, allows for schools to be located and it allows for many businesses to have opportunities here in Vienna,” she said. “The biggest word would be `transformational’ for the whole community, not just our college.”

Brett Dunlap can be reached at bdunlap@newsandsentinel.com