CHESAPEAKE — A new outpatient medical clinic for local veterans will put down roots in the Western Branch community of Chesapeake next year.
The Chesapeake City Council this week gave the green light to a new 27,100-square-foot community-based outpatient clinic to be located on the west side of Chesapeake Square Ring Road, between Portsmouth Boulevard and Taylor Road. City staff say it will reduce the travel burden for many local veterans seeking health and wellness visits.
The Department of Veterans Affairs will lease the building once it’s constructed. Work could be complete as soon as next summer. The clinic will provide general outpatient services and feature a mobile MRI unit, a drive-thru pharmacy and a sensory garden. It will operate Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on Saturdays from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m.
The clinic will be located at the site of a former Cinemark movie theater that operated from 1990 to 2011. The Chesapeake Economic Development Authority then purchased the nearly 6-acre parcel of land for $1.8 million and still owns it.
North Carolina-based Construction Managers Inc. is currently leasing the property from the authority. Sammy Sasser, president of Construction Managers Inc., told The Virginian-Pilot that Western Branch CBOC LLC, which is the applicant listed for the project, is working to purchase the land.
Sasser said design plans are about 90% done and then construction can begin.
The land where the clinic will be constructed is within a general business district, but one condition attached with the use permit approval is the addition of sidewalks and crosswalk markings for the adjacent residential properties.
Earlier this year, the VA released a study about its nationwide health care system and forecast that cities across Hampton Roads would see a significant increase in their veteran populations. The largest growth is expected for Chesapeake, which is expected to increase by nearly 49% over the next 20 years.
This clinic will mark the second being constructed in the area for veterans as another larger outpatient facility is being developed on Knell’s Ridge Boulevard near the Chesapeake Regional Medical Center.
The Chesapeake City Council unanimously approved the conditional use permit Tuesday. Councilwoman Ella Ward called the project “exciting,” adding that it will be a “tremendous asset for the Western Branch community.”
Natalie Anderson, 757-732-1133, [email protected]
