GRUNDY, VA – OCTOBER 4, 2024 – An up to $500,000 Virginia Coalfield Economic Development Authority grant to the Buchanan County Industrial Development Authority which will be used to finance utility installations on a 57-acre medical campus in the Southern Gap area of Buchanan County was closed recently.
The medical campus, being developed by Buchanan General Hospital and the Coalfields Health Foundation (CHF), is proposed to house a 61-bed assisted living facility — Heart Stone Lodge — being developed by CHF, as well as a medical clinic, a medical retail building and hotel and within 25 years, a new hospital. All of these planned facilities will need utility infrastructure, including water, sewer and electricity which currently does not exist to serve the property.
“The development of the new medical campus is an important project in Buchanan County and these infrastructure improvements are needed and important to the overall development of the county’s Southern Gap properties,” said VCEDA Executive Director/General Counsel Jonathan Belcher. “The site is immediately adjacent to the section of the new Coalfields Expressway (US 121), which opened last November. By 2027, the Town of Grundy, Southern Gap, and Pikeville, Kentucky will be connected by this major highway (US 121/460).”
In 2022, the Buchanan County IDA conveyed approximately 57 acres within the IDA’s Southern Gap economic development park to Buchanan General Hospital with the understanding that BGH and its affiliate, the Coalfields Health Foundation, would develop certain medical-related projects on the property within certain milestone dates. One of those is the assisted living facility being developed by CHF on the property which will create 30-35 direct jobs and 5-10 indirect jobs. VCEDA has previously approved an up to $700,000 forgivable loan to the IDA to help with the development of that facility which is expected to open by 2027.
“I’m happy that the Buchanan County IDA and VCEDA could help the Coalfields Health Foundation and Buchanan General Hospital with additional funds to go toward infrastructure on a much-needed project,” said Matt Fields, Buchanan County IDA executive director. “Buchanan has an aging population that could benefit greatly from the proposed services this project will offer. With these funds in place, hopefully the Coalfields Health Foundation and Buchanan General Hospital will see that the project moves forward within the next year or so.”
“We appreciate the county and VCEDA’s support for this utility infrastructure project which will benefit several initiatives, including the 61-bed Heart Stone Lodge assisted living project,” said Kirk Story, CEO of the Coalfields Health Foundation. “Buchanan County’s senior population as a percentage of the population is 37 percent higher than Virginia, yet there is no assisted living facility available in Buchanan. We have raised $6,850,000 toward our fundraising goal to build Heart Stone Lodge. Continued fundraising success is crucial to provide monthly rates as low as possible for our seniors whose income is more than 40 percent below the state average, especially given the fact that Medicare, Medicaid and most private health insurance does not pay for assisted living.”
“We are so thankful that VCEDA and the Buchanan County IDA have granted a portion of the funds required to complete the infrastructure at the hospital and assisted living facility located at Southern Gap,” said Jim Wayne Childress, a member of the Buchanan General Hospital board of directors and treasurer of the Coalfields Health Foundation. “It will provide multiple projects including a clinic, the assisted living facility and other medically-related businesses such as physical therapy and a pharmacy, and eventually a hospital, hotel, and various shops and businesses that will support the new school, the new airport and surrounding homes and establishments.”
About Virginia Coalfield Economic Development Authority and Southwest Virginia’s e-Region: The Virginia Coalfield Economic Development Authority, created by the Virginia General Assembly in 1988 to enhance and diversify the region’s economy and help create jobs, markets Southwest Virginia’s e-Region and its focus on electronic information technology, energy, education, emerging technologies, and entrepreneurship. VCEDA is a unique economic development organization that manages funds for economic development projects from a percentage of the coal and natural gas severance taxes paid by coal and natural gas companies that operate in the region. Located in southwestern Virginia, the region includes Buchanan, Dickenson, Lee, Russell, Scott, Tazewell, and Wise counties and the City of Norton. www.vceda.us or www.e-Region.org.