The vote to officially acquire the former Ohio Valley Medical Center campus took place in mid-June 2020 about two weeks before Ben Seidler was sworn in to represent the residents of Ward 2, an area that covers Wheeling Island, most of North Wheeling, and the Fulton and Glenwood Heights neighborhoods along National Road.
He agreed with the vote too, because he feared someone else would purchase the property from Medical Properties Trust Inc. (MPT) and then strip the buildings of all worth before leaving the property to rot.
“We all know it’s happened to other buildings,” the Council member insisted. “And it’s always the city that has to bring them down.”
The campus contains 800,000 square feet of interior space inside seven multi-level buildings, including both sides of the Nurse’s Residence, the West Tower, the behavioral health structure, the original Ohio Valley General Hospital, the Education and Administration Building, the South Tower, and the Valley Professional Center.
Nearly 900 employees filled those structures when Alecto-West Virginia shuttered the complete campus in late September 2019, and since the city took control, a few non-profits and a couple of city services have operated there.
“I wish I had great news about that property, but I don’t,” Seidler said. “I do know that we are actively looking for people to lease part of it or to acquire parts or all of it. There has been some interest in the past, and there have been some tenants too, so we’ll see what interest there is in the future and go from there.
“But I can’t offer any great news about the future of the OVMC campus right now,” Seidler said. “Demolition is also a possibility, and it is an option I have been considering heavily more recently. If we do not get someone in there in the near future, demolition, I believe, will need to become a more realistic option. At the end of every day, we’ve paid to keep the lights on and to keep the heat on, and now it appears we’re going to have to make some pretty hard decisions pretty soon.”
Pandemic Purchase
During the first six months of the coronavirus pandemic, W.Va. Gov. Jim Justice placed very strict mandates pertaining to social interaction, so marketing the parcels was difficult for nearly two years. Kurt Zende, the city’s former economic development specialist who now serves as the president of the Wheeling Area Chamber of Commerce, utilized the internet, conducted tours with several interested parties, and tried to attract as many non-profit organizations as he could to fill the South Tower.
But what now?
“I do not have an update on the OVMC campus at this time,” Herron said. “Right now, the City continues to maintain the property just as we have done since acquiring them two years ago this month, and we’ll continue looking for entities that are interested in a part or all of the property.”
But for how much longer?
“I know a lot of effort has gone into the upkeep and the marketing of the former OVMC campus, but I have to wonder how much more we’re going to spend on it before discussing new avenues,” Seidler said. “I wish I had a better answer for people when they ask me about the campus, but right now I don’t.
“I know there were a lot of hopes and a lot of ideas that have been discussed during the past two years,” he said. “I just want us to be as realistic as we need to be.”
5-0.
There was a phone call made. The city manager and a representative of MPT spoke. Herron’s only intention was to check on the availability of the Valley Professional Center. Councilman Dave Palmer thought it might work as a new police headquarters.
The structure and location checked all the boxes:
- It is located along Chapline Street a mere four blocks from where it is today.
- A large parking lot adjacent to the three-story building is included.
- The building is immediately adjacent to the Center Wheeling Parking Garage.
- The structure’s 36,000 square feet equals nearly eight times the size of the area now occupied by the WPD in the Ohio County Courthouse.
“But that one phone call resulted in the City getting the whole campus for all fees and back taxes,” Seidler said. “Like I said before, it had to happen that way, and we have decisions to make, but the new police station is going to be a great asset to our residents, and I believe everyone in the city of Wheeling is looking forward to the time when it is fully operational.
“The police headquarters was long overdue and Chief (Shawn) Schwertfeger fought the necessary fight to get it done,” the councilman said. “It is hard to believe the police operated out of the small place they have had for so long.”
