Hopemont Hospital in West Virginia was sold to a private developer on November 1, 2025, ending more than 110 years of state operation. The Terra Alta facility was transferred to New York-based Marx Development Group (MDG) as part of a $60 million package deal covering all four of the state’s long-term care hospitals, with day-to-day operations now handled by MDG affiliate Majestic Care.1WV Office of the Governor. Governor Patrick Morrisey Announces Completion of Sale of State’s Long-Term Care Facilities
The 2025 Sale to Marx Development Group
The November 1, 2025 closing moved Hopemont, Jackie Withrow Hospital in Raleigh County, John Manchin Sr. Health Care Center in Fairmont, and Lakin Hospital in Mason County out of state hands for a combined $60 million.1WV Office of the Governor. Governor Patrick Morrisey Announces Completion of Sale of State’s Long-Term Care Facilities MDG also committed to invest $80 million in building at least three, and up to five, new long-term care facilities in the state using local labor and materials.
Operations are now run by Majestic Care, described as a post-acute care provider, with Bluegrass Consulting Group also involved in management.2WV Office of the Governor. Governor Patrick Morrisey Announces Sale of West Virginia’s Healthcare Facilities The sale agreement gives the new owner six months from closing to identify sites for at least three replacement facilities. Missing that deadline triggers a $5 million penalty payable to the state, and additional construction milestones follow in later months and years.
Why the State Sold
The four state long-term care hospitals were losing roughly $6 million a year collectively, on operating costs of about $40 million annually and climbing.2WV Office of the Governor. Governor Patrick Morrisey Announces Sale of West Virginia’s Healthcare Facilities Governor Patrick Morrisey estimated that about $100 million in capital investment would be needed just to modernize the aging buildings across the four campuses.
Hopemont itself illustrated the problem. By the late 2010s it operated as a 98-bed facility, but a 2019 report noted only 48 beds were occupied even though a 50-person wait list existed. Staffing shortages and infrastructure limits meant the hospital could not use its full capacity even when demand clearly existed.
The state’s inspection record added pressure. The West Virginia Office of Health Facility Licensure and Certification maintained a Hopemont survey history from 2011 through 2024, with state-level deficiency citations filed after inspections in 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2018, plus federal life safety surveys in 2011, 2017, and 2024.3West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources. Hopemont Hospital Survey History Several inspections were triggered by complaints rather than routine scheduling.
Critics, including some legislators and employee advocates, questioned whether a profit-driven company would maintain the same level of care and protect existing jobs. Those concerns shaped the terms the state ultimately negotiated.
What the Sale Means for Patients and Staff
Governor Morrisey stated publicly that current patients would not lose care during the transition. The sale agreement requires Majestic Care to evaluate existing employees and make good-faith efforts to offer employment to substantially all current staff, giving them priority over outside applicants.
Ahead of the closing, the state sent letters to hospital employees asking them to indicate whether they planned to apply for positions with MDG, pursue retirement, or resign their state positions. MDG said current staff would be offered opportunities to continue employment and described plans for career development and training. How fully those commitments are honored is something advocacy groups and legislators have pledged to monitor.
What Comes Next for the Terra Alta Campus
Hopemont is now privately owned and operated for the first time in its history. The campus near Terra Alta, with its surviving early-20th-century buildings, is in a transitional period while the new owners decide which structures will be used, renovated, or replaced.
Importantly, the contract does not require MDG to keep operating at the current locations. The commitment to build at least three new facilities statewide can be met elsewhere in West Virginia, so there is no guarantee the Hopemont site will anchor one of those new builds. The six-month deadline to identify new facility sites, backed by the $5 million penalty, is the first concrete checkpoint for whether privatization delivers the modernized care the state promised.
How Hopemont Got Here: A Short History
Hopemont began as a tuberculosis sanitarium. The Anti-Tuberculosis League of West Virginia lobbied the legislature to fund a dedicated treatment facility, and in 1911 lawmakers passed an act authorizing construction.4West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources. Hopemont Hospital History A farm near Terra Alta in Preston County was chosen because physicians at the time believed high altitudes and cold, fresh air improved outcomes for tuberculosis patients.
The sanitarium opened in 1913 with three cottages housing 60 patients and eventually grew to a rated capacity of 475. Antibiotics changed everything. By the 1960s, the original purpose had largely evaporated, and in 1965 the Legislature passed House Bill 994, formally discontinuing the tuberculosis sanitarium and establishing Hopemont State Hospital for “both chronically ill and aged and infirm” residents.5West Virginia Legislature. Enrolled House Bill 994, Regular Session 1965 In 1988, the facility became licensed and certified to accept Medicaid-funded residents, cementing its role in the state’s long-term care system.4West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources. Hopemont Hospital History
That Medicaid dependence, combined with aging buildings and shrinking state appetite for the capital spending needed to fix them, set the stage for the 2025 sale.