Veterans Affairs picks site for Springfield clinic

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs announced this morning it selected a site for its Springfield clinic.

The department plans to consolidate an existing Mount Vernon clinic into the new 92,000-square-foot facility at 1800 W. Republic Road, which sits just southeast of Kansas Expressway and Republic Road. At the intersection, an extension of Kansas Expressway is planned that would run adjacent to the VA clinic property.

“The current location has served the VA well for over two decades,” said Bryan Matthews, director of the Veterans Health Care System of the Ozarks, in a news release. “However, a move to a larger facility is crucial for us to provide excellent care to an increasing population of veterans in the southwest Missouri area.”

Plans for the Queen City clinic have been in the works since at least 2013.

In March 2014, Springfield City Council approved a zoning change on 20 acres at the intersection to general retail with a conditional overlay district. The two tracts are owned by the Judith Groover Trust and the Warner Family Trust, according to the Greene County assessor’s website.

The developers of the 96-acre Springfield Plaza Real Estate LLC at West Bypass and Sunshine Street also had said their development was in the running.

The Springfield clinic would provide primary care, mental health and specialty care services to some 9,800 enrollees.

In Mount Vernon, the announcement came in 2014 that the Missouri Rehabilitation Center, which houses a VA clinic, would close, leaving the fate of the VA site up in the air.