Collier County is steadily moving ahead with building a $72 million, 120-bed veterans home and day care facility. In early October, the county’s team will meet with the Florida Department of Veterans Affairs.
The double project is the first of its kind in the nation, which has caused delays.
Board of County Commissioners Vice Chair Burt Saunders, who has championed the home for years, provided commissioners with an update at the board’s Sept. 24 meeting. The Florida Department of Veterans Affairs awarded a contract for the design work to the firm that has designed about 15 veterans nursing homes, Saunders said of Nashville, Tennessee-based Orcutt Winslow and its affiliate, HHCP Design International, which presented various models to commissioners last year.
“One of the models that we thought was really an attractive one was the Las Vegas model, so we’ve kind of designed our plan around that model—only we’ve made it a lot better,” Saunders said.
The 112-bed, two-story skilled nursing home model under construction in North Las Vegas features a new design that provides staffing efficiency and accommodates day health care, therapy and other services on the second floor. The center, which features gardens, gazebos, walkways, libraries and other amenities, is expected to open in 2026.
Saunders said Suffolk Construction, of Estero, has been selected as a construction manager at risk, or CMAR, for the project. “Suffolk has a great local presence here and donated time and materials to the local VFW to remodel the VFW,” he said. “…They have a real commitment to veterans and a real commitment to this community.”
Planning firm Q. Grady Minor & Associates and Davidson Engineering were also selected.
Saunders said he asked the Florida Department of Veterans Affairs if it could expedite the process by selecting the project team, contingent on final federal approval, which is expected after Oct. 1, the first quarter of the 2024-25 fiscal year.
“They’ve selected the team with the understanding that there is no project if it’s not approved by the federal government,” he said of spending five months doing that after approval. “We anticipate that there could be approval of this project as early as October, possibly November of this year, in terms of approval of the project but not the funding that goes along with it.”
The project team will meet privately with state VA officials Oct. 9, he said, and may be able to provide a presentation to county commissioners a day before.
John Mullins, the county’s director of Communications & Government Affairs, said delays were caused by uncertainty over whether the county needed two applications, so it initially submitted two applications and was later asked to merge them.
“This is a first-of-its-kind application ever in the nation,” Mullins said, referring to simultaneous construction of a skilled veterans nursing facility and adult day-health care program. “In the past, the adult day cares have always been approved as add-ons to existing facilities.”
There also were delays due to miscommunications by the federal government. “This is a unique project, and it requires constant collaboration and cooperation between local, state and federal governments simultaneously,” he said of the 22-acre project.
They hope to break ground in 2026 and open three years later. This is the second time Collier reached the top of the state’s priority list. In 2014, it lost out to St. Lucie County, which opened the $62 million Ardie R. Copas State Veterans’ Nursing Home in 2022. The state has nine State Veterans Homes, but eight aren’t operating at full capacity due to problems finding staff.
Collier spent $29.1 million in 2019 to purchase the 167-acre Golden Gate Golf Course to prevent overdevelopment, preserve some open space and build a veterans home. The county must pay 35% for the mandated state construction match and 65% comes from the federal VA. State VA officials visited the property in October 2021 and recommended it to Gov. Ron DeSantis and the State Cabinet as Florida’s next site.
Last year, Collier transferred $30 million from the 1-cent sales surtax county voters approved in 2018 to the state VA escrow account.
In 2019, there were 21,801 Collier veterans age 65 and older but veterans officials believe there are more than 31,000 now, and possibly more younger veterans. Florida is home to 20 military installations and nearly 1.5 million veterans, the third largest vet population in the country. Only California and Texas have more, but most Collier veterans are 65 and older. The county’s 2014 needs-based assessment showed a new veterans home would capture eight other counties in a 75-mile radius, with a veteran population exceeding 200,000.
Commissioner Rick LoCastro asked Saunders whether they could set up a local oversight committee, but Saunders said he’s been working with a Friends of the Veterans Nursing Home group with “really heavy hitting veterans,” including admirals and generals and some who have funds. “It’s a group of people that we can draw from for a Veterans Oversight Committee,” he said, adding that he’s meeting with them Oct. 7.
Naples veteran JB Holmes, who is working with numerous veterans groups on the project, told commissioners there’s a lot of misinformation and an oversight committee would help.
Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart also put $9 million into the House budget for the community center portion, Saunders said, noting that federal officials will decide how much Collier will get.
Planned for the rest of the property are two affordable-housing projects, including units for veterans and seniors, a redesigned public-private golf course and entertainment center managed by an Arthrex affiliate, and the nonprofit First Tee youth-golfing program.
