WHEELING - Lou Stein understands some will be a little skeptical upon learning the Wheeling Downtown Business Association is paying him $15,000 to prepare another redevelopment plan for the area.

After all, former Mayor Nick Sparachane revealed the Wheeling 2020 plan in May 2008. And in the early 2000s, city leaders unveiled the $200 million "Victorian Village Outlet Mall" project which never came to fruition.

"A lot of people have a lot of doubts because of past failures. In order to make people believe, they have to see something happen," said Stein, executive director of Valley Ventures, during a special announcement event Tuesday at the McLure Hotel in the downtown.

Stein, a Wheeling native, said his plan is dramatically different from those which the government officials spent thousands of dollars in taxpayers' money to create. The downtown association is a private group with no government affiliations.

Stein said he will probably start working on the actual plan - which, among other things, calls for him to take an inventory of every vacant and occupied building in the area extending from 10th Street in the north to Centre Market in the south and from Main Street in the west to Chapline Street in the east - sometime next week.

"This will be done privately with no public money," Stein emphasized. "I will work with business owners, building owners, developers, investors and others."

Stein said his goal is to "literally fill all the vacancies in downtown." Stein said the total time for the project will be a "three-, possibly four-year development."

"It will take 90 to 120 days to complete the plan," he said. "The rest of the time will be spent implementing it."

"This will gain momentum as we go along," Stein continued. "We need to create an atmosphere for people to want to jump on board."

Stein highlighted his work in Steubenville and Follansbee as proof he can get results, noting he started with 46 vacant buildings in downtown Steubenville in November. Now, only 23 of those structures are vacant, he said.

"I think we need a 'lifestyle center.' Downtown Wheeling needs to be a place where someone can live, work, shop, eat, be entertained and experience culture," Stein said. He noted he plans to work with the Wheeling-Ohio County Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Greater Wheeling Sports and Entertainment Authority to incorporate WesBanco Arena and the Capitol Theatre in promoting the city.

Regarding types of businesses he would like to attract, Stein said he would like to see more restaurants that offer breakfast, a bookstore and more clothing stores.

"You have the (City-County Building) here, a lot of offices and medical services here. There are still a lot of people downtown every day," Stein said in noting there seems to be a market for some types of shops.

As for working with city officials, Stein said City Council members are "landowners just like everyone else" in speaking of the group of buildings in the 1100 block of Main and Market streets. Council members spent about $715,000 to purchase several of these structures - including the vacant G.C. Murphy and Rite Aid buildings, as well as the current River City Dance Works building - in September 2008.

"I would hope that the city would want to work with me," Stein said.

In explaining why the association hired Stein, Wheeling attorney and group member Jeff McCamic said, "We have nothing to lose at this point."