VA breaks ground on $8.6M Springfield clinic

Last edited 3:03 p.m., Oct. 26, 2016

Veterans Health Care System of the Ozarks broke ground yesterday on the planned $8.6 million clinic in Springfield.

The 92,000-square-foot center, 1800 W. Republic Road, is scheduled for completion in March 2018 and opening to patients that October, said Veterans Health Care System of the Ozarks spokeswoman Wanda Shull. Attendees at yesterday’s 1 p.m. groundbreaking included Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., who spoke at the ceremony held at the nearby Southland Christian Church.

When completed, the Gene Taylor Community Outpatient Clinic plans to serve around 9,000 veterans within a 30-mile drive with such services as primary care, mental health, dental, optometry, radiology, a sleep lab, prosthetics and pulmonary functions.

Westlake, Ohio-based Carnegie Management & Development Corp. is developing the clinic, which the VA will lease. DeWitt & Associates Inc. is serving as general contractor.

The Springfield clinic will replace an existing Mount Vernon center, which will remain in service until the Queen City location opens.

Near the planned VA clinic in Springfield, a retail center is in the works where Kansas Expressway is extending south beyond Republic Road.

H Design Group LLC principal Brent Stevens said the firm has designed the retail center planned to the west of the Kansas Expressway extension. He declined to disclose the developer.

The Greene County assessor’s website lists Magers Crossing LLC as the owner of 5.6 acres on the southeast corner of Republic and Cox roads. Magers Crossing is owned by Randy Magers. Leas Legacy Lands LLC and the Ernest Giddens Trust also are listed as property owners southeast of the Republic and Cox intersection.