WASHINGTON – The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has begun to lease temporary space for medical services while aggressively reviewing long-term plans to replace the current facility at 1700 Vegas Drive.
"VA is committed to providing world-class medical care for Las Vegas veterans," said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Anthony J. Principi. "My goal is to build a replacement, state-of-the-art facility with all deliberate speed. It should be up and running in 36 months."
Principi's announcement of several lease signings came less than a month after VA officials terminated a five-year-old contract to lease the Vegas Drive site as an ambulatory care clinic. VA cited reports by independent architects of structural problems at the clinic as well as inaction by the building's owners.
"Our Las Vegas facility serves a burgeoning population of veterans," Principi said. "We're not going to compromise the care we're providing to them while the facility's owner looks for ways to delay – or avoid – needed changes to the building."
On Oct. 10, VA officials approved three leases for nearly 76,000 square feet of temporary space. Additional leases are expected to be awarded in the next few days. The leases for temporary space will be for three years, with annual options to extend the leases if necessary.
In total, VA officials plan to lease 169,000 square feet of interim space in Las Vegas at a cost of $4.6 million annually for primary care, medical specialty care, mental health clinics and administrative offices. Surgical specialty clinics will be relocated to the Mike O'Callaghan Federal Hospital at Nellis Air Force Base, expanding a sharing arrangement between VA and the Air Force.
An integral part of the plan for using several leased sites is providing transportation for patients between locations.
"This year we've made every effort to include our partners – the city, the state's congressional delegation, veterans service organizations, unions and our employees – as we tried to resolve our concerns over the facility at Vegas Drive," Principi said. "We will continue to work with our partners as VA moves quickly and efficiently into facilities that will allow us to focus upon the needs of our veterans."
Several options are under consideration for a long-term facility, including the construction or leasing of a replacement VA facility or developing more VA-DoD sharing of health care resources at Nellis Air Force Base.
Whatever option is chosen for permanent operations, Principi said VA will use "a fast-track" approach to open a new medical facility for patients as soon as possible.
