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WVU Medicine considering clinic in Greene County

3 min read
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WAYNESBURG – WVU Medicine, which operates Ruby Memorial Hospital in Morgantown, W.Va., may be expanding into Greene County.

The company is considering purchasing property owned by Kari Resources LP adjacent to the Walmart store off Murtha Drive in Franklin Township.

“We continue to see a significant number of Greene County residents at WVU Medicine, and this land purchase is being considered for a possible future clinical site,” WVU Medicine spokeswoman Angela Jones-Knopf wrote in an email response to questions about the hospital’s intentions of building at the site.

Jones-Knopf, contacted Friday, declined further comment regarding the health system’s plans. Gary Bowers, owner of Producers Supply and a principal of Kari Resources, did not return calls regarding the proposed property sale.

WVU Medicine officials had contacted Franklin Township several months ago regarding the possible development of a building at the site, said Steve Coss, township code enforcement officer. The officials requested information regarding the township’s zoning and land-development ordinances, he said. Coss said he last heard from someone from the system about two weeks ago.

The officials have said only that the system is considering constructing a “medical center” at the site, Coss said. This use would comply with the property’s zoning designation, which is E-1, economic development, he said.

Though the company has requested information on the township’s building requirements, Coss said, “They’ve submitted no plans, and we’ve seen nothing in writing.”

WVU Medicine, formally known as West Virginia United Health System, is a not-for-profit corporation and is West Virginia University’s affiliated health system.

The system operates the West Virginia University School of Medicine, a 600-bed academic medical center, five community hospitals, three critical access hospitals and a children’s hospital, according to the system’s LinkedIn listing. The system is West Virginia’s largest private employer and has 15,000 employees, including more than 1,000 medical staff members.

The proposed site of the development is a vacant, 45-acre parcel to the south of the Walmart store. Kari Resources purchased the land, part of the former Waynesburg Crossing retail development, in 2013.

The land had been developed about 10 years ago by McHolme Waynesburg LLC. McHolme sold one of the lots to Walmart, which opened its store there in 2009, but it failed to find other buyers for the sites.

McHolme later filed for bankruptcy, and the remaining 152 acres of the development were sold to Kari Resources for $1.3 million.

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