Groundbreaking of the New VA Orlando Facility at Lake Nona

The new Orlando VA Medical Center – a $350 million medical complex – will include a 138-bed hospital, a 120-bed nursing home, a 60-bed assisted-living facility/transitional housing, an outpatient clinic and a veterans benefits mini-service center. Construction will likely begin in spring 2009.

The medical center was designed by a joint venture between Winter Park-based RLF Minneapolis-based Ellerbe Becket, and will seek to achieve the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED Silver certification.

Once complete in 2012, the center is expected to be able to serve 400,000 Central Florida veterans and provide up to 2,500 jobs.

The new VA Medical Center is a key component of Lake Nona’s medical city, which includes the University of Central Florida College of Medicine and Health Sciences Campus, Nemours Children’s Hospital and the Burnham Institute for Medical Research.