T-L Photo/SHELLEY HANSON FOR SALE signs are affixed to the outside of Belmont Community Hospital in Bellaire.

BELLAIRE — The former Belmont Community Hospital building is available for purchase.

Large “for sale” signs can be seen affixed to the structure, located in the village of Bellaire.

The hospital was shut down in April 2019 by its owner, Wheeling Hospital, because of financial issues with operation of the facility. The announcement that the facility would close was made in January 2019.

Acuity Hospital continues to operate inside the building, but Belmont Community Hospital’s health care offerings and emergency room care all were discontinued.

Douglass Harrison, CEO of Wheeling Hospital, on Friday said Wheeling Hospital has not used the facility for two years.

“As such … I have no reason to continue to own the building moving forward. … Any interested party in the building, we will certainly make it known about the current tenant in the building,” Harrison added.

Formerly known as Bellaire Hospital, the facility had operated for 105 years in the village. After its closure, Wheeling Hospital began offering many of the same services the Bellaire hospital had at its clinics, such as the ability to get X-rays and blood work done at labs.

At the time of the closure, many in the community were concerned as it also meant the closure of the emergency room. And not long after its closure came the announcement by Alecto Healthcare Services of Irvine, California, that it planned to close East Ohio Regional Hospita in nearby Martins Ferry.

Alecto also shut down EORH’s sister hospital, Ohio Valley Medical Center in Wheeling.

EORH has since been purchased by Dayton, Ohio-based psychiatrist Dr. John Johnson, who is working to reopen the Martins Ferry hospital by the end of this year.

OVMC was purchased by the city of Wheeling this summer. The city plans to use one of the OVMC buildings as a new headquarters for its police department. The city plans to make repairs to buildings on the OVMC campus before trying to resell portions of the facility to developers in the private sector.

The former Belmont Community Hospital’s for sale signs note that the facility is listed by Paull Associates. Harrison said he was not aware of the list price on the building. Paull Associates could not be reached Friday for comment.