For The Intelligencer
Shown here is the Dr. John Johnson family. From left are son Nithin, daughter Neethi, Johnson, and wife Latha Johnson. Photo Provided
MARTINS FERRY Dr. John Johnson isn’t just a psychiatrist. He’s also an entrepreneur making investments in the Ohio Valley that he believes will have a great impact on the community for years to come.
Two of his biggest projects sit on either side of the Ohio River. He purchased the shuttered East Ohio Regional Hospital last spring and is working to reopen it this month.
But that wasn’t his first investment in the Ohio Valley.
Dr. John Johnson
MARTINS FERRY Dr. John Johnson isn’t just a psychiatrist he’s also an entrepreneur who is making investments in the Ohio Valley that he believes will have a great impact on the community for years to come.
Johnson purchased the shuttered East Ohio Regional Hospital last spring and is working to reopen it this month.
But that wasn’t his first investment in the Ohio Valley.
In 2012 he bought the former Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel headquarters in downtown Wheeling. He announced recently that with help from developer Steven Coon of Coon Restoration & Sealants Inc. of Canton, Ohio, it will be turned into an apartment building with 110 units.
Hotel owner-operator Ceres Enterprises canceled the project due to the impact of coronavirus on the company s finances, and the building is back on the market, available for $6.5 million.
Brandon Hess, partner and broker with Shai-Hess Commercial Real Estate, confirmed the latest twist in the ongoing saga of the world famous, seven-story, basket-shaped structure on Newark s east end, opened in 1997 by the late Dave Longaberger, founder of the Longaberger Company.
Hess said he has had many conversations with building co-owner Steve Coon, owner of Coon Restoration, about plans for the building, and the difficulty for Ceres Enterprises to fulfill its goal of converting the building into a hotel.
eayres@theintelligencer.net
WHEELING A $30 million investment into Wheeling’s tallest building is expected to inject a new life into the city’s downtown and local leaders are hopeful that the venture will be followed by a domino effect of supporting economic development.
Wheeling city leaders joined Dr. John Johnson, owner of the former Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel Building, and developer Steve Coon of Coon Restoration and Sealants, along with several other local dignitaries who gathered on the 12th floor of the Wheeling-Pitt building Friday afternoon. Officials announced details of the long-awaited redevelopment of the building into a 128-unit apartment complex in the heart of downtown.
ERIC AYRES Staff Writer
WHEELING A $30 million investment into Wheeling’s tallest building is expected to inject a new life into the city’s downtown and local leaders are hopeful that the venture will be followed by a domino effect of supporting economic development.
Wheeling city leaders joined Dr. John Johnson, owner of the former Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel Building, and developer Steve Coon of Coon Restoration and Sealants, along with several other local dignitaries who gathered on the 12th floor of the Wheeling-Pitt building Friday afternoon. Officials announced details of the long-awaited redevelopment of the building into a 128-unit apartment complex in the heart of downtown.