Welcome back to EP Digest. Every Thursday morning, the best local news, events, and happenings from Morgan, Berkeley, and Jefferson counties — tailored to what you actually care about. No doom-scrolling, no algorithm. Just the stuff that matters in the Eastern Panhandle. Let's get into it.

A $60 Million Hospital Wing — and Martinsburg's First YMCA Since 1932

WVU Medicine's money is starting to show up as buildings. In late July, Jefferson Medical Center broke ground on a $60 million, three-story outpatient building — expanded imaging, lab, and medical-office space, plus a new infusion and cancer-care suite inside the hospital tied to the WVU Cancer Institute. It's the most visible piece so far of the $260 million WVU Medicine has committed to Berkeley and Jefferson counties, and it replaces the shelved Blue Ridge Crossing plan by consolidating those services at the hospital campus. The Journal (subscription) reported the groundbreaking.

A few miles north, that same investment is spinning off something Martinsburg hasn't had in nearly a century. The city announced a $34 million, 65,000-square-foot YMCA — anchored by a childcare development center and an indoor aquatic center — built with the YMCA of Frederick County, Maryland, on land leased from WVU Medicine next to its hospital. It would be the first YMCA in Martinsburg since 1932. City Manager Andy Blake said the childcare center and the pool are what's “really driving it.” Groundbreaking is expected next summer, with roughly 18 months of construction after that. PNN has the details.

The financing is the tell. The Y — along with a Boys & Girls Club expansion, park upgrades, and a new westside fire station — is being seeded by one-time revenue from WVU Medicine's $200 million hospital project, reinvested into the community rather than banked. Two counties, one health system, and a building spree that's starting to look less like scattered projects and more like a plan.

What homes are selling for across the Panhandle

The picture right now: Across the Eastern Panhandle, the typical single-family home sold for $385,398 in July, across 349 closings we logged. County by county: Morgan near $374,900 (33 sales), Berkeley near $350,000 (182 sales), and Jefferson near $432,412 (134 sales).

Worth watching: Inventory. 800 homes are listed or coming soon across the three counties — Morgan 86, Berkeley 401, Jefferson 313 — including 34 “coming soon” listings about to hit the market. On size, that pencils out to about $212 a square foot for a typical detached home. Brand-new construction accounted for 10 of the 349 sales.

One that caught our eye: An $877,500 home in Martinsburg.

Based on information from Bright MLS for July 1–31, 2026. Single-family detached closings we logged; medians, not averages. Compiled by EP Digest.

A 275-Acre Sports Complex Goes Looking for a Builder

Berkeley County is officially shopping for a developer. The Berkeley County Development Authority has put out a Request for Qualifications for a private sub-developer to build the commercial, hospitality, retail, and entertainment pieces around its planned destination sports and events complex — “Project All-Star,” envisioned for a 275-acre site on the west side of Interstate 81 at Exit 8. The complex itself is planned to hold eight basketball courts, 16 volleyball courts, pickleball and tennis, a championship court with spectator seating, outdoor fields, and event space for up to 4,000 people. Qualifications are due August 24. It's paid for through a new Economic Opportunity Development District, which lets sales tax generated inside the district stay in Berkeley County to finance the build. County notice • WV MetroNews.

And the $4 billion Bedington data center is still on the clock. Penzance's planned campus — roughly 548 acres in the Falling Waters district, about 1.9 million square feet and 600 megawatts at full build, and the state's first “high-impact” data center under HB 2014 — is still targeting a construction start before the end of this year, per the developer's own timeline. The county's questions about how the state divides up the tax revenue — which we covered in April — were still unanswered as of June. We're chasing that one down.

What's an Economic Opportunity Development District? It's a special taxing district the state can authorize around a big project. Inside its boundaries, some of the sales tax that would normally flow to the state budget instead stays local, earmarked to help pay for the development's roads, utilities, and construction. Supporters pitch it as a way to fund large projects without raising anyone's tax rate; the trade-off is that the diverted revenue doesn't go to the state's general fund while the district is active.

One of the Last Youth Fairs of Its Kind Is Happening Right Here

The 79th Berkeley County Youth Fair is underway — and it turns out that's rarer than it sounds. WV MetroNews reports it's one of only two dedicated youth fairs left in the United States. This year's fair drew 720 exhibitors, up from 570; organizers say it has “grown astronomically,” and they've added pig, goat, and duck races to the schedule.

It's the kind of thing that's easy to drive past and easy to take for granted — right up until you learn almost nobody else still has one. PNN • WV MetroNews.

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Story, event, business, government, school, neighborhood, weird-and-wonderful — if it's local, we want to hear it. Saw a new sign go up? Heard about a meeting no one's talking about? Know of a shop opening, closing, or expanding? Spotted something on your street that turned out to be interesting? Send us a note at [email protected] — tips of every kind keep the Digest sharper than any source list could. We protect our sources, and we verify before we publish.

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