The new 182-bed facility will include 118 beds for surgery and mental health, a 30-bed spinal cord injury/disorder center and a 30-bed nursing home community living center, in addition to a four-bed blind rehab facility, research building and parking structures.

The medical center will create about 6,300 jobs during construction, employ about 2,000 people when built and will serve 83,000 veterans.

“This new medical center will not only help provide veterans with the care they have earned, it will create good-paying construction jobs that invest in the local economy,” said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki.

All of the remaining construction options, totaling $580.2 million, were awarded to Englewood-Colorado-based Kiewit-Turner Joint Venture on Nov. 17, the department reported.

The facility will be designed to LEED Silver certification to make the most of renewable energy initiatives and is expected to be completed in early 2015.

The Department of Veteran Affairs also announced that the office has narrowed its choices for a replacement hospital in the Louisville, Ky. area down to two site options: a site on Brownsboro Road is the preferred site, and undeveloped land at St. Joseph/Factory Lane is also an option.

The veteran affairs office considered five site options: three undeveloped sites, reconfiguration of the existing medical center, or a downtown location adjacent to the University of Louisville Hospital.

In addition to financial, environmental and historic preservation studies, the Veterans Affairs office will solicit input from veterans while working towards the acquisition of one of the properties.

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