Hospital contract awarded
WASHINGTON -- When Secretary of Veterans Affairs James Peake visited the North Las Vegas site for the VA's newest hospital in August, he declared it would be the "crown jewel" of the agency's health care system.
On Thursday, the VA announced that it has awarded $365 million to start construction, its largest-ever building contract.
The job was awarded to the Las Vegas-based joint venture construction firm of Clark/Hunt.
The money will build a 790,000-square-foot hospital at Pecos Road and the Las Vegas Beltway, including 90 beds for inpatient and mental health care, diagnostic and treatment clinics and administration facilities.
Contracts already have been granted to build a 120-bed nursing home as part of the complex, the VA said. The scheduled completion date is September 2011, two years later than first envisioned.
The VA has forged ahead on the Southern Nevada project since it was put forward five years ago, even as its costs rose from $250 million to more than $600 million because of redesigns and increases in labor and supply costs.
The hospital was one part of an agency restructuring that seeks to upgrade health care in rapidly growing parts of the country.
Nevada is home to almost 250,000 military veterans who receive care at a scattering of VA clinics in the valley, at the O'Callaghan Federal Hospital at Nellis Air Force Base and at agency medical centers in California.
