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The former property of Ohio Valley University in Vienna, W.Va., is now officially in the hands of the WVUP Foundation.
West Virginia University at Parkersburg President Torie Jackson said the Foundation, the school's fundraising arm, closed on the purchase just before Thanksgiving. The goal is to renovate the north campus, which includes the former Stotts Administration Center and Smith and Rampy Halls. The south campus, including the Snyder Activity Center, Fox Dining Hall and other facilities, will be assessed to determine which buildings will be sold and which need demolished because they've reached the end of their useful life, Jackson said.
"This can be a really great opportunity to renovate a facility and continue its educational purposes in the Mid-Ohio Valley," she said. "It can also be an amazing opportunity to drive the economy into a technology sector."
OVU shut its doors in December 2021 amid financial and academic struggles. WVUP announced this summer it was purchasing the 225.22-acre property for $4.6 million as part of a $10 million gift from The Ross Foundation, the largest in the school's history.
The Stotts building is planned as the future home of the WVUP Technology Center, which will focus not only on technological degrees but also provide incubator space for tech businesses.
The foundation is working with a local architectural and engineering firm to get the Stotts building heated as winter approaches, Jackson said. Approximately $300,000 has already been spent toward that goal.
The foundation is also working with Wood County Economic Development to secure federal funding to replace doors and windows, at an estimated cost of $1.25 million, and the state of West Virginia to fund repairs to the roof and installation of solar panels, expected to be around $2.1 million.
Once renovations are done, the intent is for the foundation to gift the center to the college, Jackson said.
The Smith and Rampy dormitories are "in relatively decent shape," Jackson said, and the hope is to eventually use them to provide some student housing. That would have to be done by a third party, and more work needs to be done to determine what form that would take, given the diverse nature of WVUP's student body.