Springfield VA clinic site 3 years behind schedule

For the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, three years behind schedule is soon enough. Last month, federal officials selected a south Springfield site as the future home of a VA clinic originally projected to open in 2015. Now, mid-2018 is the best guess.

At 1800 W. Republic Road, southeast of planned extension of Kansas Expressway, a 92,000-square-foot clinic in the works would welcome the VA operations moving from Mount Vernon. The Queen City clinic would provide primary care, mental health and specialty care services to some 9,800 enrollees.

When news broke in 2014 the Mount Vernon facility was closing, the status of the Springfield VA clinic was in limbo. Plans in Springfield have been discussed publicly since at least 2013.

Brian Hart, a spokesman for Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Missouri, said the senator has worked to get a VA clinic in Springfield.

“Springfield is the largest metropolitan area in the nation without a VA medical facility,” Blunt wrote in a March 2014 letter to VA Secretary Eric Shinseki sharing concern for project delays. “Any delay in the opening of the new clinic would hurt thousands of Springfield-area veterans. Currently, these veterans are forced to drive 30 or 40 miles to Branson or Mount Vernon, Missouri, to see their VA physician for basic care.”

At the time of the letter, revised plans called for an opening in 2016.

Hart said the senator is told the clinic may not be open until mid-2018, and federal budget issues are among the reasons.

Blunt introduced the Caring for America’s Heroes Act to bring mental health treatment for veterans and family members in line with the way physical injuries are treated, and it was included in the National Defense and Authorization Act of 2014. He also cosponsored the Veteran’s Choice Act, which became law in 2014 and allows veterans to receive care from non-VA providers if wait times are longer than 30 days at VA clinics. This month, however, Blunt’s Vietnam-era draft record emerged as an issue in the 2016 senate race when The Kansas City Star reported the senator received three draft deferments as a college student in the late 1960s.

Wanda Shull, a spokeswoman for the Veterans Health Care System of the Ozarks, which will manage the new clinic, said she wasn’t sure about the construction timeline.

“We will likely know more over the coming weeks,” she said by email, adding structural designs are under review.  

She said Westlake, Ohio-based Carnegie Management and Development Corp. submitted the winning bid package that includes purchase of the land and construction of the building. The VA will lease the facility for 20 years for an annual cost of $2.6 million.

“The reason for the delay is that all leases nationally were delayed and it affected this project,” Shull said.

The VA considered several sites before settling on Republic Road, but Shull declined to name or confirm any. According to Springfield Business Journal reporting, at least three other sites were in the running: the 96-acre Springfield Plaza development near West Bypass and Sunshine Street, vacant land east of Kickapoo High School and property south of the Library Center on South Campbell Avenue.

Shull also declined to say how many developers submitted bids, citing a “sensitive” procurement process, but noted the developer was chosen based on value, technical requirements and pricing.

The selected site includes two tracts of land with separate owners: the Judith Groover Trust and the Warner Family Trust, according to Greene County assessor records. In March 2014, Springfield City Council approved a zoning change on 20 acres at the intersection to general retail with a conditional overlay district.

Springfield architect Geoffrey Butler, who began work on behalf of the landowners in late 2013 to secure the zoning change, said he hasn’t been involved with the project since council’s action.

“There were three developers proposing on the project for a design that was predetermined by the VA. No chance of us doing the design work,” he said last week by email.

“It is likely that there might be some local coordination necessary relating to the platting, zoning constraints and managing local code officials. We could get called to assist on that since we are here and know all the players and rules – or not. When we travel around the country doing hotel work, we often hire local professionals to assist since they can do it less costly than we can.”  

Blunt has said the project is expected to generate additional developments.

“Planners in Springfield see the clinic as a major economic development tool spurring the creation of new ancillary businesses like hotels, restaurants and other services,” he wrote in a letter to the VA.

Web Producer Geoff Pickle contributed.