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St. Joseph’s Landing space for sale

Part, or all, of former hospital now on the market

File Photo St. Joseph’s Landing is on the market, but building manager Jon Defibaugh said offers for individual buildings or portions of them will be considered as owner Siltstone looks for partners to grow and advance the property. A sale of the entire property is not off the table.

PARKERSBURG — Putting the former St. Joseph’s Hospital campus up for sale is an effort to continue growth, not throw in the towel, building manager Jon Defibaugh said.

“We are in no way shutting down. We are in no way going backwards,” he said.

Now known as St. Joseph’s Landing, the property is listed on the real estate website LoopNet as on the market for $10 million. Defibaugh said investment firm Siltstone Resources isn’t necessarily looking to sell the entire 840,000-square-foot facility — though that’s not off the table — but is hoping more interest could be generated among entities that want to buy an individual building or part of one.

“The sale offers a company the ability to come in and purchase a portion of the campus to help us grow it and keep it alive,” he said. “Our focus has and will always be the revitalization of the St. Joseph campus, but it is going to take more than just one company to make it happen.”

The campus includes six buildings, and the primary focus currently is on filling the A Building, where the main entrance is located; F Building, the physicians’ office building; and B Building, where Milestone Assisted Living opened last year, according to a statement provided by Defibaugh. Buildings C (the original emergency department area built in the 1960s), E (the original structure built in 1931 and facing Murdoch Avenue) and G (where conference rooms are located) are “more difficult to fill up,” Defibaugh said.

Those buildings would likely require more extensive rehabilitation and renovation, unless an entity wanted to move in a very hospital-like operation, he said. It might make more sense for some businesses to purchase the space rather than spend a lot of money on renovations and a monthly lease, Defibaugh said.

“We are open to long-term leases, with ready-to-move-in space, or, if it makes more economical sense, the ability for a company to come in (and) purchase as much space as they would need and become a partner in the growth of our amazing campus,” he said.

Duke Jordan, a commercial agent with Berkshire Hathaway Home Services in Charleston, has been working as the real estate agent for the property for about a month. He said he’s reached out to in-state entities about using some of the space for elder care or drug treatment facilities, as well as national information technology and telecommunications companies, educational entities and international companies.

“It’s an interesting project,” Jordan said. “I’m a West Virginian, so (I want to see) whatever’s best for the City of Parkersburg and West Virginia.”

Jordan said one challenge to the listing is the fact that the site can’t be used for things like an acute care hospital, ambulatory surgery center or other inpatient or outpatient health care service. That was a stipulation included in the deed when Siltstone purchased the property from Camden Clark Medical Center in early 2016.

Multiple medical offices, Milestone, Fresh Fire Ministries and Defibaugh’s MOVID Studios are already located at St. Joseph’s Landing, and the YMCA plans to move its child care operations there next month. If someone did purchase the entire campus or a portion where an entity was already leasing space, those leases would be conveyed to the new owner, Jordan said.

“The whole point is to make this a campus that will never be shut down,” Defibaugh said.

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