This article originally appeared on AL.com.
Hoar Construction has started construction on the new $30 million Birmingham Veterans Affairs Medical Center mental health clinic.
The nearly 60,000-square-foot clinic is expected to serve about 25,000 veterans a year from one location, with amenities not available at the current hospital for lack of space, officials say.
The clinic is expected to open in fall 2021 at 7901 Crestwood Blvd., and will include 450 surface parking spaces. Hoar is partnering with national developer US Federal Properties Co. of Kansas City, Mo., and architect Hoefer Wysocki of Leawood, Kan.
Mark Hendricks, vice president of Hoar’s healthcare division, said the clinic is an “important project for the city of Birmingham.”
“We are extremely proud to build our first VA clinic in our ‘hometown,'” Hendricks said. “This clinic will provide new resources to thousands of veterans each year and will offer services that previously weren’t available. The mental health and well-being of those who have served us so bravely is a top priority, and we look forward to building a facility that is worthy of the commitment and sacrifice made by all our veterans.”
Veterans will be offered outpatient treatment services for general mental health, post-traumatic stress disorder, substance abuse, group psychotherapy and psychiatry. There will also be a mental health day program, suicide prevention, in-home intensive case management, couples and family therapy, telehealth programs, peer support and homeless programs, among others.
Hoar’s recent healthcare projects include the Benjamin Russell Hospital for Children in Birmingham, Encompass Health Lakeshore Rehabilitation Hospital, the Lakeshore Foundation campus master plan, Infirmary Health’s Saraland medical campus, Russell Medical Total Healthcare and Urgent Care and the University of South Alabama’s Fanny Meisler Trauma Center. The firm handled more than $134 million in healthcare construction work across Alabama last year and $437.5 million nationally.
