Fitzsimons will become home to state-of-art facility
By Chris Barge, Rocky Mountain News
AURORA - When Jim Nicholson took over as U.S. secretary of veterans affairs two years ago, plans for replacing his home state's aging veterans hospital were "looking pretty dim," he said Wednesday.
Nicholson, by contrast, was beaming as he stood on a stage next to an open field on the east flank of the Fitzsimons medical campus and announced that the state-of-the-art hospital would be built after all.
Nicholson said he signed a deal last Thursday with the Aurora Redevelopment Authority to buy the first 18 acres of the planned 31-acre site for $11.15 million.
The VA will acquire the rest of the property during the next year, while an architect draws up plans, Nicholson said. The veterans hospital campus is scheduled to open in 2011 with 1.4 million square feet of usable space.
"This is a red-letter day for Colorado," Nicholson said. "It's a red-letter day for Denver and it's a red-letter day for Aurora. But most importantly, it's a red-letter day for veterans."
The hospital's future became doubtful the year before Nicholson took over, when then-VA Secretary Anthony Principi announced that he wanted more than 30 acres to build a free-standing hospital to replace the aging veterans facility near East Ninth Avenue and Colorado Boulevard in east Denver.
What Principi proposed conflicted with a long-standing vision of building a VA hospital on 13 acres that would abut the new University Hospital at Fitzsim-ons so the two could share services.
Fitzsimons property owners said they couldn't come up with the additional land, prompting local, state and federal officials to work on salvaging an agreement.
Nicholson recalled how Aurora Mayor Ed Tauer flew to Washington, D.C., soon after Nicholson replaced Principi in 2005.
"We said, 'How can we put this together? Because it's needed and it makes sense,' " Nicholson said. " 'Let's forget about what's happened so far and look forward and get this done.' And he said, 'I think that's a great idea,' and we have done that."
In all, the redevelopment authority, led by Tauer, plans to sell 24 acres on the northeast corner of East Colfax Avenue and Fitzsimons Parkway to the VA for an estimated $15 million.
The redevelopment authority, which had planned hotels and office buildings for the property where the hospital will now go, will use proceeds from the land sale to buy a new parcel for those projects, Tauer said.
The VA found seven additional acres on three adjacent parcels, including the new University Physicians Inc. building on East Colfax Avenue. The new hospital property will be bounded by East Colfax Avenue to the south, Fitzsimons Parkway to the east, East 19th Place to the north and Wheeling Street to the west.
Money in President Bush's 2008 budget will pay for two of the initial structures, Nicholson said. The balance of the $658 million VA medical center will be paid for out of the 2009 budget, he said.
The design will take about 12 months to complete, keeping the project on track to be put out for construction bids by mid-2008.
It will have medical, surgical and in-patient wards, mental health in-patient treatment facilities, special units for spinal cord injury patients and a new nursing home.
Once complete, it will bring the total amount invested in facilities at Fitzsimons to $4.3 billion.
New VA medical center, by the numbers
• Planned opening......2011
• Cost......$658 million
• Total land......31 acres
• Size......1.4 million sq. ft.
• Jobs created......1,800
