MONTEVIDEO — CCM Health in Montevideo will be undertaking a project to provide new medical facilities for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs medical clinic in the community.
Brian Lovdahl, CEO of CCM Health, told Montevideo City Council members on Monday that the Montevideo VA Clinic has issued a request-for-lease proposal to obtain new quarters for its medical services. CCM Health has been in discussions with the VA Clinic and has developed a proposal to meet their needs, he told council members.
CCM Health plans to remodel the approximately 10,000-square-foot area of the “old” hospital on the CCM Health campus, as well as add 2,000 square feet to it for a new VA Clinic. It will cost an estimated $1,050,000 to develop the area.
In addition, CCM Health will handle the up-front costs of making improvements within this space for the VA Clinic. They are estimated at roughly $2.4 million.
The agreement calls for the Department of Veterans Affairs to pay the $2.4 million improvement costs to CCM Health at the time it begins operations in the new facility.
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The VA will enter into a guaranteed 10-year lease with CCM Health for use of the space. The lease agreement is structured so that CCM Health will recover all of its costs for developing the space.
Plans are yet be developed for the new clinic space and the project bid. Lovdahl said he is hopeful of seeing construction begin in the spring with the new facility ready for occupancy in 2022.
City Council members voiced support for the project in a motion calling for CCM Health to go forward with the project.
“We gotta do it,” said council member Bryce Curtiss, pointing to the importance of the VA Clinic to the community and area.
He and other members also noted that CCM Health will more than recover all of its costs and could benefit if the clinic exercises an option for a second 10-year lease on the new space.
Lovdahl said the Montevideo VA Clinic was opened roughly 20 years ago. The clinic has outgrown the space and its layout and design no longer meets today’s needs.
CCM Health and the Montevideo VA Clinic have a long-standing partnership. The clinic obtains a variety of services, such as radiological and laboratory tests, from CCM Health.
