Parking Changes Announced As VA Bed Tower Construction Begins

TAMPA, FL -- The much-anticipated construction of the new bed tower at James A. Haley Veterans' Hospital in Tampa will begin this month.

This building will provide private, inpatient rooms for veterans receiving hospital care. It will be four floors, approximately 245,000 square feet with an additional 5,000 square feet to be renovated, with 96 medical-surgical single-patient rooms, 40 intensive care unit beds, a canteen, outdoor eating area and support spaces.

Estimated to cost $148.6 million, the new bed tower is scheduled to be completed by 2021.

U.S. Reps Kathy Castor, D-Tampa, and Dennis Ross, R-Lakeland, lobbied the U.S. Veterans Administration for the new tower to accommodate Tampa Bay's growing veterans population, the largest in Florida.

"Our veterans deserve and have earned the best of what our country has to offer," Castor said, "and it is our duty to ensure they are honored as such."

"We are thrilled for this project to get started so that our veterans can enjoy the private rooms they deserve," Joe Battle, the hospital’s director, said in a news release. "Their care and comfort is our top priority, and private rooms are essential to a therapeutic, healing environment."

An existing pedestrian bridge between James A. Haley and the University of South Florida will be partially demolished and reconfigured to provide a new connection to the tower and main hospital.

As construction begins, there will be several traffic and parking changes:

• June 25 – The Main Valet entrance road (Gate 3) off 131st Ave. will be closed. Please use the entrance at Bruce B. Downs Boulevard and Richard A. Silver Way. *This date actually might shift five weeks later – TBD. But as of now the other information stands.
• July 9 – The Opal Lot will close due to demolition of trailer 72.
• Aug. 6 – The entrance off Bruce B. Downs Boulevard just south of the USF pedestrian walkway (Gate 6) will closed due to demolition of the walkway. Main Valet will close for the duration of the Bed Tower construction. However, a limited number of valet parking spots remain in Polytrauma/SCI in addition to the parking garage. Shuttles from both areas will be available.
• Early August – Additional patient park-and-shuttle will be available in the Freedom Lot.

During this project there will be more traffic, parking changes and road closures. Click here for more information.

Image via BCI Integrated Solutions