AFTER SCHUMER’S, URGING VA WILL BEGIN CONSTRUCTION FOR CRITICAL NEXT PHASE FOR TWO NEW VA CLINICS IN CANANDAIGUA AND MONROE; MOVE REPEATEDLY PUSHED BY SCHUMER WILL DELIVER $141 MILLION IN FED INVESTMENT TO CANANDAIGUA VA CAMPUS UPGRADE & NEW CLINIC– PLUS GROUNDBREAKING BEGINS TODAY ON NEW EXPANDED $14M ROCHESTER VA CLINIC IN HENRIETTA
Schumer Says Start Of Long-Awaited Construction-Phase Of New Outpatient Clinics In Both Henrietta And Canandaigua Will Upgrade State-Of-Art Veteran Care & Create Local Construction Jobs
Schumer: $150 Million In New VA Healthcare Facilities Is A Prescription For Improved Care For The Rochester Finger Lakes Region, Home To Nearly 70,000 Veterans
U.S. Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer announced today, after his push, that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) has set this Monday October 2nd at 11:00 a.m., as the due date to receive bids for the construction of the long-sought $141.13 million Canandaigua Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Campus modernization project. Construction will include modernize the Canandaigua VA Medical Campus by renovating existing facilities and constructing new buildings, including a modern three-story 84,200 square foot Outpatient Clinic in what is now an undeveloped space between Building 1 and Building 2 on the Canandaigua Campus. Additionally, Schumer said today marked the groundbreaking for the construction of a new 84,000 sq. ft. VA Clinic now being built in Henrietta, NY at Calkin’s Road that will replace the smaller and outdated Rochester Community Based Outpatient Clinic (CBOC) on Westfall Road.
“Today’s groundbreaking of the long sought new Rochester VA Clinic – together with the receipt of contractor bids next week for the $141 million project to upgrade the Canandaigua VA Medical Center with an expanded clinic – is a prescription for better care for our Rochester and Finger Lakes area veterans. The new Rochester clinic will be nearly twice the size of the current outdated and aging clinic, will double the available parking, and include new services like CT scan and endoscopy. Together with an expanded three-story clinic in Canandaigua that’s now green-lighted for construction this more than $150 million in investment will not only create good-paying construction jobs, but is a good next step forward to provide Rochester and Finger Lakes area veterans with the care they deserve after so bravely serving our country,” said Senator Schumer.
The VA originally announced in 2007 that it would initiate a major reconstruction project to modernize the Canandaigua VA Medical Center and provide state-of-the-art care and meet the needs of current and future veterans. This announcement came after Schumer, local veterans, and the community, in 2003-2004, convinced the VA's Capital Asset Realignment for Enhancement Services (CARES) Commission to reverse its recommendation that the VA close the Canandaigua Medical Center. To begin the redevelopment project, Schumer secured $36.58 million in FY 2010 to complete a new campus master plan and, in 2014, Schumer helped secured the necessary $122.4 million in the Fiscal Year 2015 omnibus spending bill to begin the construction phase of this project. The $122 million appropriation funds phase I scope of work and represents a substantial portion of Canandaigua VA Medical Center's estimated $300 million redevelopment plan; which includes building a new 84,200 sq. ft. three-story modern Outpatient Clinic in now undeveloped space between buildings 1 and 2 as well as upgrade utilities, access roads, parking and construction of additional state-of-the-art updates. So far, $141.13 million has been delivered, including $134.33 million for construction and $6.8 million for asbestos abatement and demolition will fund this Phase I scope of work.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) has set this Monday October 2 at 11:00 a.m. as the due date for contractors to submit bid proposals for the Canandaigua VA Medical Campus modernization project. The USACE expects to award a construction contract in January 2018 and start construction in the summer of 2018. Construction is expected to continue through 2022.
Separately in September 2011, Schumer announced that the Veterans Health Care Facilities Capital Improvement Act he backed had authorized the federal funding needed to build a new expanded 84,000 square foot VA clinic in Monroe County. This new facility which broke ground today in Henrietta at Calkins Road will replace the VA’s current outdated 49,000 square foot Rochester Community Outpatient Clinic (CBOC) at Westfall Road. The new Rochester clinic will be nearly twice the size of the current outdated and aging clinic, will double the available parking with 672 new parking spaces, and include new services like CT scan and endoscopy. Schumer said while these new facilities are a great step forward in upgrading care for local veterans continued subsequent upgrades to the outpatient services provided in the Rochester-Finger Lakes Region cannot stop.
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