Top 10 Stories Of 2023: Neighborhood Around Former OVMC Campus Getting Major Makeover
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WHEELING - The Center Wheeling area began to see big changes in 2023 thanks to the redevelopment of properties in and around the former Ohio Valley Medical Center. That work has created a new home for the Wheeling Police Department and a much-needed behavioral health facility for children and adolescents. And it will be the future home of a center that will be a major help to the fight against cancer.
Renovation of the former OVMC Valley Professional Building was completed this year so it could become the new Wheeling Police Department's headquarters. An open house was held in July for people to see the work done to make the building into a state-of-the-art facility.
It provides much more square footage for the police department, which had outgrown its former station at the City-County Building on Chapline Street.
The project cost about $6.5 million and began in September 2021. The new location features space for training, exercise facilities, larger evidence rooms and separate men's and women's restrooms.
"I walk into 2115 Chapline St. and fill up with immense pride at what all the hard work has accomplished," Wheeling Police Chief Shawn Schwertfeger said on the day of the open house. "More importantly, the men and women of the Wheeling Police Department finally have a wonderful facility that is so deserved for them to continue to flourish and be the premier law enforcement agency in the state and in our region."
Meanwhile, the buildings have begun to come down at the former OVMC main campus in preparation of building a new WVU Medicine regional cancer center. The announcement for that facility was made last year and the property had recently come under control of WVU Medicine to start demolition.
The city of Wheeling purchased the former OVMC properties in 2019 with the idea of redeveloping it after the former owner, Alecto Healthcare Services, shut down the facility. The hospital's closure was a shock to the region as OVMC had served the community's health care needs for more than 100 years.
Officials from WVU Medicine Wheeling Hospital, West Virginia University Health System, the Ohio County Commission and the city of Wheeling last October completed a lease and financing transaction for the hospital properties. The terms of the lease included financing for the environmental remediation and demolition of the remaining buildings on the former OVMC campus. Once the lease revenue bonds are paid off by WVU Medicine, the deed to the property will officially be transferred to WVU Medicine for $1. Although the term of the lease agreement is technically 30 years, the bond is expected to be repaid in 15 to 20 years.
The news of WVU Medicine acquiring the former OVMC was bittersweet for some former workers as the plans did not include renovating the current hospital building, but rather tearing it down.
The cost estimate to build the new facility ranges from $75 million to $90 million. Once open, the cancer center will employ about 150 people and see an estimated 40,000 patient visits each year.
"For many years, our area was blessed to have two wonderful hospitals in Wheeling Hospital and OVMC," Wheeling City Manager Robert Herron said after WVU Medicine officially took over the property. "This project continues the tradition of providing first-class health care from this site."
Meanwhile, the former Robert C. Byrd Child and Adolescent Behavioral Health Center, which also closed in 2019, was given new life as it reopened in September as Orchard Park Hospital. Located just yards from the future regional cancer center, it is a 30-bed acute care facility that takes in children and teens in crisis via referrals from emergency room doctors in West Virginia and also parts of Ohio and Pennsylvania.
Gov. Jim Justice came to Wheeling in July for the celebration of the hospital's ribbon cutting. He emphasized that day how important of an addition this was to the care for children in the Mountain State.
"We've just got to do more," he said. "Our kids need us so badly -- and they're worth it. It touches your heart.
"We've pulled the rope together all the way," Justice added. "Children today are faced with so many obstacles. Today, it's so complex. But I can tell you absolutely, right now, that what you're doing is God's work. And you should be very, very proud."