CHARLESTON — After many years of attempts by the West Virginia Legislature to sell one or all four of the state’s publicly owned long-term care facilities, those hospitals are now in private hands.

Gov. Patrick Morrisey announced Saturday that the sale of Hopemont Hospital in Preston County, Jackie Withrow Hospital in Raleigh County, John Manchin Sr. Health Care Center in Marion County and Lakin Hospital in Mason County to New York-based Marx Development Group was finalized.

“This marks an important milestone in our work to strengthen healthcare services and modernize the state’s operations,” Morrisey said in a statement Saturday. “West Virginia patients can look forward to enhanced care, modernized facilities, and a commitment to quality care.”

Morrisey announced on Aug. 12 that MDG had agreed to purchase the four state-owned long-term care facilities. MDG agreed to pay the state $60 million in cash combined with an $80 million ancillary consideration component.

The additional $80 million would cover operational losses during the transition period as the state-owned long-term care facilities transfer to private for-profit facilities managed by MDG subsidiary Majestic Care, a long-term care company with facilities in Indiana, Michigan and Ohio.

In the agreement, MDG/Majestic agreed to continue to care for the mix of low-income and indigent patients, those with intellectual and developmental disabilities, those with substance use disorder, and older incarcerated patients or other wards of the state. State employees formerly with the four facilities have the option of remaining as employees of MDG/Majestic with the same salary and tenure.

State officials have said the four long-term care facilities — which have 511 licensed beds – operate at a combined $6 million annual loss, with long-term projected costs expected to rise to nearly $40 million per year. The four facilities are also in need of significant capital investments to update and renovate them at an estimated cost of $100 million.

MDG plans to build three to five new health care facilities to replace the aging Hopemont, Jackie Withrow, John Manchin and Lakin hospitals. The purchasing agreement establishes a detailed timeline with specific deadlines for site acquisition, financing, permitting and construction, but the agreement includes no guarantees the new facilities would be in the same areas as the existing hospitals.

MDG also is bound by an “operations covenant” to ensure continuous operation of the existing long-term care facilities until the new ones are complete. The company would be required to operate the new facilities for a minimum of three years post-completion and maintain specific bed capacities.

State Sen. Joey Garcia, D-Marion filed a lawsuit seeking to block the sale of John Manchin Hospital in Fairmont in his private capacity as an attorney representing a resident at the facility. But a circuit court judge last week ruled that the sale could continue.

“I expected optimism that we would eventually prevail,” Morrisey said Wednesday during a press conference at the State Capitol Building. “It was so clear that we had the authority to do what we did. And so, we were really gratified that the judge affirmed that thinking.”