$665 Million VA Hospital Goes to Bid
ORLANDO, Fla. — The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has put the final phase of the $665 million, 1.2-million-square-foot new Orlando VA Medical Center facility out to bid.
The project includes construction of a large multi-specialty outpatient clinic and a 134-bed hospital. Bidding closes May 17 and bids will be awarded in June.
The medical center campus will include a 120-bed community living center, a 60-bed residential rehab facility, a stand-alone chapel and administrative and support service offices.
The medical center is scheduled to open in fall 2012 and will be located on a 65-acre campus in southeast Orange County. The facility will be situated near the University of Central Florida College of Medicine, the Burnham Institute, the University of Florida Academic and Research Center, and Nemours Children’s Hospital.
The VA center was designed by a joint venture of Rogers, Lovelock and Fritz architects of Winter Park, Fla., and international architectural firm Ellerbe Becket. 
Construction has already begun on a $38.4 million on-site central energy plant, which is expected to be completed May 2011. General contractor James A Cummings Inc. of Fort Lauderdale is spearheading the development of the plant.
Last November, VA officials awarded a $39.4 million contract to Turner Construction Co. of Orlando to build the community living center, the residential rehab facility and the chapel. That project is expected complete by May 2011.
Development costs for the medical center have come in 30 percent under the government estimate, says Courtney Franchio, public affairs officer for the Orlando VA Medical Center.
When finished, the new VA facility will house two linear accelerators for radiation oncology, eight operating rooms, two cardiac catheterization laboratories, two MRI machines and several computer tomography scanners.
VA officials and area veterans held a groundbreaking ceremony for the medical center in October.
Bidding information is available at www.fbo.gov.