(Publisher’s Note: A new future for the former Ohio Valley Medical Center Campus was announced in October 2022 and since Wheeling City Manager Robert Herron has navigated a path that ultimately leads to the demolition of nearly 800,000 square feet of space once utilized to save lives. The razings of six structures are expected to begin this Fall, and the project will take more than a year to complete. Once cleared and sculpted, the Center Wheeling block will see the construction of a regional cancer center by WVU Health Systems, a facility expected to measure between 70,000-90,000 square feet with as many as 150 employees.)
The six Center Wheeling structures on the former campus of the Ohio Valley Medical Center will be demolished to make way for a new, 95,000-square-foot regional cancer center owned and operated by WVU Medicine.
The announcement was made this morning during a 10 a.m. press conference in the courtyard of the campus. Officials from the WVU Health System, the City of Wheeling, and the Ohio County Commission distributed a press release that stated the development would positively transform the delivery of healthcare and the economic landscape of Wheeling, the Northern Panhandle, and the surrounding region.
Members of Wheeling Council met yesterday to vote on a resolution that allowed City Manager Bob Herron to negotiate and enter into an agreement with WVU Medicine during a special Noon meeting Thursday. The resolution passed 6-0 with Mayor Glenn Elliott absent.
The agreement with WVU Medicine was the worst-kept secret in Wheeling for more than a year. City Council voted 6-0 in June 2020 to acquire the campus, including the former Ohio Valley Professional Center that is being renovated into a new police department headquarters. Efforts were made to market the buildings to local and regional companies, and the campus also was in the center of a controversy between City Council and administrators from Bluefield State University.
A few non-profits relocated to the campus, Roxby Labs operated in an area inside the East Tower during the coronavirus pandemic, and City Manager Bob Herron moved a few departments to the E&A Building to help with social distancing on the first and third floors of the Ohio County Courthouse.
The OVMC campus was home to much more than the 200-bed medical hospital in the West Tower. When it was shuttered in September 2019 by Alecto-West Virginia, both sides of the former nurse’s residence were used for storage, the South Tower was crowded with doctor’s offices and treatment floors, the original OVGH, or East Tower, was transitioned into an office building, and the Education and Administration Building was filled with offices and learning areas.
The Hillcrest Behavioral Center was a mental health facility with 30 beds and counseling areas, and EMSTAR was always one of the busiest emergency rooms in the Upper Ohio Valley. More than 800 employees lost their jobs three years ago when all departments closed after two years of operation under Alecto. The healthcare provider also owned, and closed, East Ohio Regional Hospital in Martins Ferry.
