Construction on the new WVU Medicine office building in Shepherdstown will be completed in August. Tabitha Johnston

SHEPHERDSTOWN This fall, Shepherdstown residents will no longer have to drive out of town to visit their doctor or medical specialist.

After closing on the property beside Sheetz on Dec. 13, WVU Medicine East began building on the 1.44 acre location. When completed in August, the 10,700 square foot medical office building will house two one-story office suites, providing primary care services and space for WVU Medicine specialists to offer clinics.

“Shepherdstown is an area of Jefferson County that had been identified as not having a sufficient number of medical providers. We have been looking for property in Shepherdstown for several years,” said WVU Medicine East Vice President of Marketing and Development Teresa McCabe. “We want to provide the residents of Shepherdstown improved, convenient access to health care services.”

According to McCabe, this will be the sixth medical office building WVU Medicine East has built in the Eastern Panhandle. Collaboration between the six office buildings and WVU Medicine East hospitals is also anticipated to regularly occur in the future.

“Berkeley Medical Center is also considering operating x-ray and laboratory services in the new office building for the convenience of our patients in Shepherdstown,” said WVU Medicine East President and CEO Anthony P. Zelenka, mentioning the building will include 2,300 square feet of shelled space for future expansion.

While some new physicians will be hired to work full-time in Shepherdstown’s medical office building, medical specialists will be shared among the different Jefferson County sites, according to McCabe. The first office suite will house the building’s full-time primary care physicians and “advanced practice providers,” while the second office suite will be a space for WVU Medicine specialists to hold clinics.

“For example, our sports medicine and orthopaedic surgeons in Charles Town have already expressed interest in having regular office hours in the Shepherdstown medical office building,” McCabe said, mentioning Dr. Craig Clark, Dr. Dave Richards, Dr. Ryan Sprouse and Dr. Brad Wright’s interest is because of their established connections with the Shepherdstown community.

“They also currently serve as the team physicians for Shepherd University Athletics,” McCabe said. “They started the official relationship with Shepherd University Athletics for the 2019-2020 school year.”

Panhandle Builders and Excavating of Martinsburg is the contractor for the $4.4 million project, on the property which was purchased from Seneca Crossing, LLC.