Derm One on the move

By NATE HUBBARD/Staff

A long-neglected building on Pepper’s Ferry Road is finally getting some TLC.
Fourteen years after a regional home repairs company first made plans – later abandoned – to locate an outlet in Wytheville, a local dermatologist’s office is now giving the never-used building an occupant for the first time.
Derm One, a skin-care clinic located near Wythe County Community Hospital for the last decade, turned in an application with the town of Wytheville on Sept. 28 to complete the interior of the unfinished Pepper’s Ferry Road building and move its operations across town.
Work has since begun on getting the building ready for Derm One’s move, which, according to practice manager Jay Valeyko, is scheduled to occur in early 2010.
“It was a shell building,” Valeyko said about the structure adjacent to Advance Auto. “It basically gives us an opportunity to create an office.”
According to information provided by the town, the exterior of Derm One’s forthcoming new home was initially built for Berry Home Centers to open a store in Wytheville.
Berry Home Centers, which now has locations in Abingdon and Chilhowie, first filed a building application with the town of Wytheville in November 1995.
The company had the frame of the building constructed, but never completed the interior or opened a Wytheville store. In the ensuing years since Berry Home Centers’ plans for Wytheville fell through, the building has sat empty.
Valeyko said Derm One will end its lease with the hospital and shift all of the clinic’s Wytheville operations to the new location.
“It’s a combination of things,” he said about the clinic’s reasons for the move, specifically citing more space at the new lot as a major enticement.
The chance to design the interior from scratch, Valeyko said, will allow Derm One to make its new abode a spiffy spot.
“It will be a brand new, state-of-the-art office,” he said.
Derm One’s team of dermatologists and physician’s assistants is led by Dr. David Tolliver, who founded the overall practice as Virginias’ Dermatology in 1994.
Tolliver’s business now has five locations – three Derm One offices, in Wytheville, Bluefield and Radford, and two Virginias’ Dermatology facilities in West Virginia.
Valeyko said that the Wytheville clinic has steadily picked up more patients during its time in town and he added that the company hopes its move to the bigger space on Pepper’s Ferry Road will allow it to expand even more.
If the expected growth in business materializes, the practice manager said opportunities to add more employees may arise.
“We would hope that our volume continues to grow,” he said. 
Nate Hubbard can be reached at 228-6611 or .