Construction of new Daytona VA clinic passes key milestone, set to open spring 2024

DAYTONA BEACH ― Exterior construction is finally done for the new Veterans Affairs multispecialty clinic on Williamson Boulevard, but that doesn't mean it's ready to open quite yet.

Officials with the Orlando VA Healthcare System on Friday gave an update on the $60 million project that broke ground in December 2021. Here's what we learned:

Interior buildout work still needs to be done

The city issued a certificate of occupancy for the 131,000-square-foot VA facility at 1776 N. Williamson Blvd. on Oct. 13.

Even so, the target opening date for the new VA clinic is spring 2024, said Joseph Nunez, a public affairs specialist for the Orlando VA Healthcare System.

Still needing to be done is interior buildout work as well as the installation of equipment and furniture.

It will replace two existing smaller VA clinics

Once the new VA facility is open, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs' two smaller existing clinics at 551 National Healthcare Drive off Dunn Avenue and at 1620 Mason Ave. will close.

Both are leased facilities, confirmed Nunez.

Commercial Realtors for the New York-based landlord of the existing 62,000-square-foot William V. Chappell VA multispecialty clinic at 551 National Healthcare Drive have already made the property available for lease. The property's main building was built in 2001. The VA Vet Center at 1620 Mason, Suite C, is an annex location that occupies roughly 12,000 square feet of space.

The new clinic will employ more people

Nunez said the new VA clinic on Williamson is expected to employ 400 people when it opens. The VA's current facilities in Daytona Beach employ 340.

Daytona has one of the VA's highest workloads

In fiscal year 2023, which ended Sept. 30, the existing Daytona Beach VA multispecialty clinic helped 26,686 veterans. The VA clinic in Deltona saw 6,058 veterans, according to Melanie Thomas, public affairs director for the Orlando VA Healthcare System. Those figures do not include repeat visits.

Daytona Beach's current clinic ranks 34th highest in the nation in number of veterans it services and 21st highest in number of outpatient visits each year, Thomas added in explaining the need for the new bigger VA facility on Williamson.

How many veterans live in Volusia County?

According to the most recent U.S. Census Bureau statistics, Volusia County is home to 49,434 veterans.

"The new Daytona Beach VA Multispecialty Clinic will serve any eligible veteran seeking services," said Thomas.

What services will the bigger new VA clinic offer?

According to Thomas, the new VA facility will offer the following services and operational support: cardiology, optometry, audiology, gastroenterology, neurology, endoscopy, wound care, sleep, recreation therapy, interventional pain management, acupuncture, surgery services (for podiatry, orthotics, urology. gynecology, and vascular), vascular lab work, chiropractic, physical therapy, complex patient aligned care team (PACT) services, dermatology, telehealth, patient advocacy, chaplain services, primary care, mental health, social work, homeless services, sterile processing, and warehousing.

The new clinic is in a fast-growing area

The new VA clinic on Williamson is directly south of Daytona State College's Advanced Technology College.

It's also in the heart of Daytona Beach's fast-growing LPGA Boulevard area. That corridor has been called "Boomtown Boulevard" because of the all the new homes, luxury apartments and shopping centers that have have sprung up there in recent years on both sides of Interstate 95.

Since the opening of Tanger Outlets mall in 2016, the LPGA area has seen the addition of the Latitude Margaritaville 55-and-older community, ICI Homes' Mosaic full-life community, hundreds more homes at LPGA International, more new retail centers including Tomoka Town Center, Latitude Landings and Shoppes at Williamson Crossing, and new luxury apartments both along LPGA Boulevard as well as on Williamson and Clyde Morris boulevards.

And that's not counting the new 341-unit Atlantica at Daytona "garden-style" apartment complex under construction across the street from the future VA clinic at 1799 N. Williamson Blvd.

The site was previously school district land

Carnegie Management & Development Corp., the Westlake, Ohio-based developer of the new VA clinic on Williamson, paid $4.48 million to acquire the 78-acre mostly wooded site from Volusia County Schools in March 2021, according to Volusia County property records.

The clinic under construction is being built on a 27-acre portion of the property that includes 750 surface parking spaces and a planned flag pavilion. The rest of the land has been set aside for a potential future expansion of the VA facility.

Carnegie has developed several VA facilities across the country.

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Construction of new Daytona VA clinic on Williamson passes milestone