MORGANTOWN – The Monongalia County Commission on Wednesday approved a purchase agreement for $4.1 million with White Birch Properties LLC for the 55,000 square-foot White Birch Tower II and attached property located at 1311 Pineview Drive.
The Monongalia County Health Department will be fully located within that building by July 1, 2027.
The health department’s current home – approximately 2.25 acres in the heart of WVU Hospitals’ expanding campus – is being sold to the hospital system for $6 million.
That transaction was also finalized during Wednesday’s meeting.
Commissioner Jeff Arnett, who led the county’s property search, said the new facility meets all the needed requirements. It’s centrally located near the two hospital systems, gives MCHD the space to bring all its services under one roof, and is serviced by an existing bus route.
“We’re excited. We’re also buying the additional space attached to the building. There’s a playground, and there’s a couple acres there ancillary to this that’s owned by the same folks that wasn’t part of the deal originally. So, we’re going to get that extra space,” he said, explaining the new building affords MCHD room to grow, providing an additional 25,000 square feet beyond its current building at 453 Van Voorhis Rd.
“They will have a full dental clinic and medical exam rooms as well as the other services that have been provided by the health department all these years, and leave room for expansion and some economic opportunities because there are some current tenants in the building that they’ll continue to be able to collect rent from,” Arnett said.
MCHD’s WIC program has been a tenant in the building since relocating from 1000 Elmer Prince Drive in 2025.
The sale price of the current MCHD property and the purchase price of the White Birch tower leaves the county about $1.9 million to work with.
“There’s probably going to be an HVAC and a roof replacement and some other upgrades. We’ll probably want to seal the parking lot, that kind of stuff,” Arnett said. “The hope is everything will come in with the money that we have. That’s our goal, that there wouldn’t be any other taxpayer money going into this other than the proceeds from the taxpayers’ building that we’re selling … The biggest impediment to moving is the timeframe, July of next summer. We’ve got to build a whole new dental clinic and doctor’s offices for clinical visits. That’s going to take most of the time.”
MCHD Executive Director Anthony DeFelice agreed, “There is a lot of work to be done between now and July 1, 2027, but I am confident that we will meet that deadline.”
“The White Birch Tower 2 checked a lot of our boxes because of its convenient location, close to both hospitals. It also provides adequate space and parking, as well as updated infrastructure This was one of the main objectives in our strategic plan, to find a home for the health department that will allow us to better serve the public health needs as we move into the future,” DeFelice said. “This will also enable us to have all of our programs and employees under one roof.”
As part of WVUH’s purchase agreement, the current MCHD facilities will be leased back to the county at no cost up to the 2027 move deadline.
WVU Medicine President and CEO Michael Grace said the situation is a win for all involved.
“I think this is a win-win situation where you all hopefully get a better location for the health department than what it’s in now, an aging building that probably needs some work, and we have property adjacent to our hospital complex that will allow us to expand health care services in the future.”
