ELKINS — WVU Medicine United Hospital Center has purchased the former Teter Motors property located on North Randolph Avenue/U.S. Route 219, next to the state Division of Motor Vehicles building.

The property, which contains 6.91 acres, was purchased in July for $1,650,000. The Inter-Mountain obtained information about the transaction through a property transfer on file at the Randolph County Clerk’s office.

According to the property transfer, the seller was listed as “Homestead Holdings, LLC.” The buyer was listed as “United Hospital Center, Inc., a West Virginia not for profit corporation.”

Part of the transfer reads, “The property herein conveyed is same tract conveyed to Homestead Holdings, LLC by Lloyd F. Teter Jr., by deed dated May 23, 2006 in the office of the clerk of the County Commission of Randolph County.”

The Inter-Mountain reached out to WVU Medicine United Hospital Center for comment, and received a statement via email from Matt Chisler, director of Public Relations, which reads, “UHC has no comment at this time.”

The land was recently cleared of several of the structures on the property, including the former showroom and garage building for Teter Motors.

Randolph County Development Authority Director Robbie Morris recently confirmed that the land was purchased by United Hospital Center, but had very few details on what was being built at the location.

“WVU Medicine cleared off the buildings and I think they plan to start construction on a building sometime this spring,” said Morris. “I don’t know the specifics on what it is going to be, but from what I’ve heard is that it’s going to be some sort of physician office center.”

United Hospital Center joined with West Virginia University Hospitals in 1997 to form the West Virginia United Health Systems. UHC employs more than 2,500 employees and is a member of WVU Medicine.

The same week UHC purchased the former Teter Motors property, it announced it was constructing a $9.2 million, 18-bed step-down unit on the hospital’s seventh floor in Bridgeport. The addition is aimed toward improving the flow of patients at both UHC and WVU Medicine Ruby Memorial Hospital in Morgantown.

Teter Motors originally opened in Elkins in 1944 and had two locations – on Davis Avenue across from Ginos, and on the Beverly Five-Lane, where Newlon’s Trucking is now located.

The Davis Avenue location collapsed during a storm in 1968, and the business was then moved to the North Randolph Avenue property.