TAMPA, Fla. -- A major project is underway at the VA Hospital in Tampa.
- Groundbreaking on new VA Hospital expansion in Tampa
- James A. Haley Veterans' Hospital adding 250,000 square feet of space
- Project to add private rooms, new cafeteria, outdoor dining
The huge project, totaling about $149 million, is set to add about 250,000 square feet of additional space to the James A. Haley Veterans' Hospital adjacent to the University of South Florida campus.
A groundbreaking took place Tuesday morning.
Construction will take about three years to fully complete the project and will add additional hospital bed space, a new cafeteria and an outdoor dining area.
The four-story addition also will include about 5,000 square feet of renovated space in the hospital.
Some veterans who use the facility said the addition of private rooms at the hospital will be the most beneficial and will ultimately mean they'll have to spend less time in the hospital.
"Right now, we have crowded quarters into the patients," said veteran Mary Ann Keckler. "What we see today with the two beds versus the single bed, we have very few private rooms here and it makes a major difference for those recuperating from an illness to be able to get themselves up out of bed and get themselves going."
The bed tower expansion is expected to be completed in 2021.
The new bed tower at the hospital is the first major construction project managed by the the US Army Corp of Engineers for the VA under recently approved federal legislation.