With a $500,000.00 grant from the State of West Virginia to develop a Weirton Campus, the Ohio-based St. Joseph the Worker College has spent a total of $492,000.00 on two properties in Weirton. February property transfer records filed in the Hancock County Clerk’s office show that the College paid $330,000.00 to purchase property previously owned by the Hancock County Board of Education and currently owned by Altair Development, LLC . The Sec. of State records lists Michel Chek of Weirton as the organizer of Altair. The deed lists the property as bordering on Elm Street and the Weirton Steel Sheet Mill, Elm Street and Virginia Ave and speculation has been that the property contains the former Weir High School.
Also purchased was a parcel from AMPM, a limited-liability company owned by Agina Kempen and Paul Kempen. The College paid $162,000.00 for the parcels one of which was sold to AMPM by Katie Giannirakis in 1991. The other parcel was sold to AMPM by the Hancock County Board of Education in 2018.
Officials of St. Joseph the Worker College were contacted for further information on timelines for the property to be ready for classes and what work may be necessary to convert the buildings for use as a technical education facilit, but at press time no one from the College had responded.
