Essentia Health to Take Over Ownership of Virginia Location from City

VIRGINIA, Minn. — After a vote by the city council, Essentia Health will officially take over ownership of the Essentia clinic building in Virginia.

The facility was previously only leased by Essentia, but the City of Virginia will eventually transfer its ownership.

Essentia will be committing around $8 million towards repairs of the building over two years.

The agreement includes a 4 and half-year lease, with Essentia Health officially owning the buildings by 2029.

“The city of Virginia has supported Essentia in its work around trying to grow services, recruit physicians, add state of the art technology, Improve the facilities on the on the Virginia campus and and it’s hard to do that if you don’t own them, own the buildings and own the land,” Sam Stone, Essentia Health-Virginia Administrator said.

The Mayor of Virginia is looking forward to a future of secure health care in the Iron Range.

“They made a huge commitment, and we recognize that. We’re going to make that huge commitment as well, and we want to make sure that we ensure that the city has a continued role in a long term stewardship of health care. And this particular site, we are a central location for Essentia health. We are a feeder system for the the big hospital in Duluth. They provide excellent health care,” Virginia Mayor Larry Cuffe said.

Throughout its partnership with the City, Essentia Health has invested around $35 million into the Virginia campus.

With the ownership transfer, Essentia looks to add more upgrades to its facilities.