VA announces hospital construction contracts
The Department of Veterans Affairs has announced two large construction contracts at VA Medical Centers in Colorado and Pennsylvania in the past week.
The VA has awarded a $22.5 million contract to construct a new 184-bed VA Medical Center in the Denver area and a $27.33 million contract to build a research office building at the Pittsburgh VA Medical Center.
The new Denver facility, to be built in Aurora, Colo., will replace the Denver Medical Center for the Eastern Colorado Health Care System. It will include a 30-bed Spinal Cord Injury/Disease Center, a 30-bed community living center, a research building, a central utility plant and parking structures.
[Related story: The VA intends to spend $54B on healthcare in 2012]
VA officials said the 120,000 square-foot space would include areas for mental health services and administrative functions, in addition to a Department of Defense outpatient clinic for the U.S. Air Force.
Construction is scheduled to be completed in February 2014.
The Pittsburgh VA Medical Center contract calls for construction of a three-story, 100,000-square-foot building that includes office, laboratory and support space. It will also include a helipad on the roof for emergency patient transport to the adjacent hospital.
Construction on the Pittsburgh facility is scheduled to begin in late spring, with an estimated completion date of October 2013.
The research building is part of the Pittsburgh VA CARES Consolidation, one of the largest VA infrastructure improvement projects in the United States. The total cost of all improvements at Pittsburgh VA is $295 million.
