JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – In two years, the Department of Veterans Affairs will open a new medical center on Jacksonville’s Northside.
The new facility, near River City Marketplace, will replace two smaller VA centers.
Crews have started clearing the land, which will turn into a new outpatient medical center on Max Leggett Parkway.
“The Duval County Jacksonville market is our largest area, most densely populated area, for veterans,” said Chad Adams, VA’s Lake City Medical Center Associate Director. “When we add new clinics and add additional space we can attract new state-of-the-art buildings and make it more efficient for them.”
Adams said the new clinic will be more than 160,000 square feet. It’ll serve the more than 45,000 veterans currently enrolled and Adams hopes to attract more vets.
“We will offer primary care, mental health care, imaging, specialty medical care as well as having 30 beds residential rehab on site which is unique to the area,” said Adams.
Two current VA sites in Jacksonville will close and relocate to the new site once it opens.
One is on South University Boulevard at the Memorial Health plaza and the other is on Southpoint Drive North.
“A lot of military retirees choose Jacksonville area as their place to live so we like to be able to provide care in their local area and meet their needs so we can continue to provide the best care possible,” said Adams.
The new building will be much larger. In an effort to get veterans in and out more efficiently, they are eliminating congested areas that they see in smaller clinics.
The VA told News4Jax it’s currently in design for the construction phase. This week it had its first meetings with the activation team to kick off its plans.
The build-out costs to meet VA design requirements will cost $40 million. The project is a 20-year lease.