VA Taps Kiewit-Turner JV for $800M Denver Replacement Hospital

September 9, 2010
By Barbra Murray, Contributing Writer

The federal government, one of the few entities to provide the construction industry with steady work throughout the recession, has taken another step forward in the development of the $800 million Denver VA Medical Center in Aurora, Colorado. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs recently selected joint venture Kiewit-Turner to serve as the 1.1 million-square-foot replacement hospital’s contractor.

The new Denver VAMC will occupy 31 acres on the former Fitzsimons Army Medical Center site, also home to the University of Colorado Hospital complex. Kiewit-Turner’s contract calls for the joint venture to commence pre-construction services at a cost of $1.3 million for the tertiary care medical center, as well as the remodeling of an existing 120,000-square-foot structure on the site. A partnership involving H+L Architecture, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill L.L.P. and others is behind the design of the project, which–as is the case with all new government buildings–will meet standards for LEED Silver certification, at minimum.

Development of the hospital is on track to reach completion in 2014.

A great many government agencies are in the midst of construction projects; the VA alone has quite a few on its plate. In June, ground broke on a 1.5 million-square-foot replacement hospital in New Orleans. Earlier this year, the agency awarded contracts for the construction of a 220,000-square-foot clinic in Cape Coral, Florida, and an 84,000-square-foot polytrauma center at the Audie L. Murphy VA Medical Center in San Antonio. These projects represent only a small percentage of the VA’s current development endeavors.