The VA is updating what once was the main hospital on a Florida medical campus

Building One was constructed in 1933 as the main hospital on the Veterans Administration’s Bay Pines (Fla.) Medical Campus. At that time, it was known as the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers. But after a larger replacement hospital was built in 1983, Building One’s role changed to where its first floor currently houses the healthcare system’s Veterans Canteen Services that include a food court, retail store, and barber shop.

The building also offers behavioral health services, and space for administration and support.

Now, a joint venture of the general contractors Eamon Chase, Inc., and Robins & Morton has taken on what will be a two-year interior renovation of the 94,000-sf Building One’s second through fifth floors that convert those spaces, which had previously been classified for institutional and hospital occupancy, to business occupancy to accommodate primary care outpatient services.

The JV team will also conduct a partial renovation of Building One’s first floor and attic levels, as well as exterior work that includes a new accessible covered entry, parking improvements, and landscaping.

THE MAIN HOSPITAL’S KITCHEN GETS A MAKEOVER, TOO

A legend of the VA's medical campus. Image: Dept. of Veterans Affairs — The renovation of Building One (1 on this legend of the VA’s campus in Bay Pines, Fla.) will consolidate the location of behavioral sciences services, and focus on the building’s new role as an outpatient clinic. Image: Dept. of Veterans Affairs

The renovation will strip the building down to its exterior walls. “This will allow [the building team] to swap up the layout of the floors and create a functional space for its future purpose” as an outpatient clinic, says Michael Skrobis, a Senior Project Manager with Robins & Morton.

The estimated construction cost of this renovation is $42 million. The Department of Veterans Affairs has also contracted the Eamon Chase-Robins & Morton JV to renovate an 18,000-sf kitchen in the campus’s main hospital (Building 100), at a cost of around $9 million.

Building One is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. And the project team has a connection to this building’s purpose, as a Service-Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business Mentor Protégé Joint Venture. “A project of this magnitude helps ensure that veterans will continue to receive the healthcare that they have earned,” says Eamon Chase’s president, Brett Sanborn, who is a U.S. Army veteran.

Rural hospitals present unique opportunities and challenges for healthcare facility operators. Oftentimes, the infrastructure and building systems have not been updated for years and require significant improvements in order to meet today’s modern medical demands. Additionally, as these smaller, more remote hospitals are acquired by larger regional and national healthcare systems, the first step by new ownership is often to update and rehabilitate the building. But how can this be done thoughtfully, economically, and efficiently in ways that allow the engineering and facility staff to adapt to the changes? And how can the updates accurately reflect the specific needs of rural communities and the afflictions with which these areas most commonly face?