The site plan review for the new $122 million regional cancer center at the former site of the Ohio Valley Medical Center in Center Wheeling was the only substantial item on Monday night’s agenda during the May meeting of the planning commission. While various building permits and other routine procedural steps still lie ahead for the massive project, the site plan approval from the city was the big green light needed to truly get the ball rolling toward construction.

Architects Bruce Knepper and Greg Coni of SmithGroup, senior project engineer Jeremy Young of GAI Consultants, special project consultant John Pastorius of WVU Medicine and director of communications and marketing Phillip Carl of WVU Medicine attended Monday night’s meeting to answer questions and provide a presentation about the project before the planning commission.

“We have a schedule that’s actually getting started,” Knepper said. “We have the site package that’s out to bid. That will be due at the end of the month, and after that, we’ll hopefully get started. If we stay on budget, there’s a theory that we can start moving dirt in June.”

Plans for the new four-story regional cancer center call for the construction of a 122,477-square-foot outpatient facility to serve patients from throughout East Ohio and the Northern Panhandle of West Virginia. An estimated 130 employees will work in the new facility, which is scheduled for completion in December 2028.

Photo by Eric Ayres Members of the Wheeling Planning Commission listen to a presentation Monday night during a site plan review for the new WVU Cancer Institute St. Joseph Regional Cancer Complex in Center Wheeling. From left are Chairman Michael Baum, Howard Monroe, Jeremy West and Tom Connor.

“As a regional cancer center, the idea is that you won’t have to travel all the way to Morgantown,” Pastorius said, noting that the center will be for outpatient treatment, but long-term options allow for expansion to inpatient beds in the future. “There is a potential for a future tower, if it comes to that. We actually have a space for it.”

Several buildings occupied the former OVMC campus, which for many decades served the community as a regional hospital. Parking for patients and many employees was located across Chapline Street in the Center Wheeling Parking Garage. In recent years, both the OVMC campus and the parking garage were removed.

The new regional cancer center will have one building with parking for patients and employees on site.

“We have about 9 acres of property to deal with,” Knepper noted.

Designs show an ambulance and mobile imaging entrance off Chapline Street. The main entrance to the facility will be along 22nd Street directly across from Eoff Street. There will be a traffic loop to a patient drop-off area at the main entrance, where up to six vehicles can fit under the cover of a canopy. A tiered visitor parking lot will be located to the west of the building along the Chapline Street side, and an employee parking lot will be up the hill on the east side of the building, with a staff and loading truck entrance off the upper portion of 22nd Street.

Site designs by SmithGroup show the planned entrance ways and parking lots for the new WVU Cancer Institute St. Johns Regional Cancer Complex in Center Wheeling.

“We’re trying to get a fair amount of trees and vegetation around the site,” Knepper said. “We’re looking at quite a few trees around the perimeter. A lot of the spaces inside the building look out, and we’re trying to keep as much green as we can. It helps de-stress people in that environment.”

The first floor will contain radiation and oncology departments, related clinics and building support. The second floor will house clinics and imaging facilities for MRIs and CT scans. The third floor will have clinics and doctors’ offices for appointments and treatment planning. And the fourth floor will contain facilities for medical oncology and a pharmacy.

“The idea is — everything you need is in the building,” Knepper said.

“You guys have done a great job laying out and optimizing that space,” planning commission member and Wheeling City Councilman Ben Seidler said.

“A lot of work has gone into that,” Knepper noted. “We’ve done an awful lot of work on regrading the site, trying to keep as much material on site so we don’t have to spend that much money getting it off site. So we have the parking in tiers.”

Photo by Eric Ayres Architect Bruce Knepper of SmithGroup speaks before members of the Wheeling Planning Commission on Monday night during a site plan review for the new WVU Cancer Institute St. Joseph Regional Cancer Complex in Center Wheeling.

Officials added that planning for the regional facility also involved several meetings with WVU Medicine cancer patients and their families, who provided input on the design of the building to make sure it includes features they want to see at the future center.

Planning also involved consideration for the Center Wheeling neighborhood and business district.

“They’ve done an excellent job with tying in the community and the surrounding businesses,” Wheeling Building and Planning Director Brenda J. Delbert said. “It’s all been part of the thought process.”

There will be a garden café located off the main entrance, and the property will be accessible and walkable to other areas of the neighborhood, such as Centre Market.

Knepper added that the side of the building near the main entrance will have a striking appearance, particularly when lit up in the evening.

Wheeling Building and Planning Director Brenda J. Delbert and City Councilman Ben Seidler attend a meeting of the Wheeling Planning Commission on Monday night.

“That corner is almost all glass,” he said. “So that will be quite the presence from the street at night. It will be very easy to see where you’re going.”

Planning commission member Howard Monroe said the representatives addressed all of the concerns pertinent to the panel, presenting a well-designed and aesthetically pleasing facility, good traffic flow and stormwater management plans, ample landscaping and green spaces, and more.

“I’m really impressed,” Monroe said. “It will be a gigantic addition to our community.”

Architects noted that Rycon of Pittsburgh has already been engaged as a construction manager for the project.

“They’ve been working on a lot of site logistics as far as how to work on the site, how to keep the dirt within the site, much like our demo contractor kept the city streets clean,” Knepper said. “We’re expecting it to be just as pristine as that was.”

Photo Provided This architect's rendering provided by SmithGroup shows the conceptual design of the new WVU Cancer Institute St. Joseph Regional Cancer Complex in Center Wheeling on the site of the former Ohio Valley Medical Center.

Rycon has also been developing a strategic process to bring construction supplies in and out of the site without major disruptions or obstruction of city streets.

Seidler noted that when he first became a member of Wheeling City Council six years ago, one of the new council’s first votes was the huge decision whether the city should acquire the former OVMC property. Without being involved with months and months’ worth of previous discussions about the monumental proposition, the new council had to decide whether to buy the property and control its destiny or not buy it, risk watching it “sit there and rot” and end up having to pay to tear it down.

It was a nerve-racking decision that the city ultimately made, Seidler noted, indicating that with the WVU Cancer Institute St. Joseph Regional Cancer Complex on the horizon today, the city’s move a few years ago to acquire the OVMC campus property was undoubtedly the right decision.

“Getting to vote on this tonight is so exciting,” Seidler said, noting that he has seen loved ones over the years having to travel far from home for needed cancer treatment. “It was a huge loss losing OVMC. But this has truly come full circle, and it’s great to see this facility moving forward. It’s a huge blessing to our community.”

Photo Provided This architect's rendering provided by SmithGroup shows the conceptual design of the new WVU Cancer Institute St. Joseph Regional Cancer Complex in Center Wheeling on the site of the former Ohio Valley Medical Center.