The California Department of General Services awarded Clark Design-Build of California Inc., along with Pasadena-based Jacobs Engineering, a $66-million design-build contract for the Veterans Home of California, Redding.
Associate architect SFCS Inc. of Roanoke, Va., will serve as the project architect and at least 10% of the subcontractors on the project are to be disabled veteran-owned businesses.
Located on 26 acres of undeveloped land, the 164,000-sq-ft Veterans Home of California, Redding will include 150 beds and health support services for veterans in need of skilled, residential, or memory (dementia) care. Other specialized areas within the one-story building include nursing and medical spaces, along with physical therapy areas and food services facilities.
The building's design promotes a more residential, rather than institutional, feel. Behind the stone veneer and wood window exterior are single rooms and single loaded corridors provide a more intimate ambiance. To further create a residential environment, the project team will install outdoor social and activity areas including a putting green, parade grounds, bocce ball court, and shuffle board area.
The Veterans Home of California, Redding is being designed to earn a minimum LEED gold certification. Many of the project�s sustainable elements will enhance the residents' comfort and well being, including individual temperature control in all living units, large windows in all units and common areas, and relying on low-emitting materials.
Completion is expected in spring 2012.
There also will be room for possible future expansion.
Project Director Wendy Roberts has said that the federal government will pay 60% to 65% of the project�s construction cost with the state picking up the rest.
At the recent groundbreaking, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger joined California Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Roger Brautigan in �fulfilling the promise my administration made to honor and give back to the men and women who sacrificed so much for us.�
�I am proud to say that we have now invested more in California veterans� homes than any other previous administration,� the governor says. �It is a great privilege to be able to give back to our veterans and provide them with the resources, comfort and respect they deserve.�
�Today�s groundbreaking ceremony is the culmination of many years of hard work and dedication to veterans on the part of people committed to having this Veterans Home built in Redding,� says Secretary Brautigan. �This historic groundbreaking for the first California Veterans Home in Shasta County is also the result of determined veterans, legislators and community members who were resolved to have this veterans home built in Redding. I especially wish to thank the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs for partnering with the state to build this veterans home and the Thomason Family for donating the land we are standing on today.�
Under Gov. Schwarzenegger, CDVA has invested $568 million in federal and state funds in building new veterans� homes. CDVA currently operates five state veteran�s homes in Barstow, Chula Vista, Lancaster, Ventura and Yountville and a sixth home in West Los Angeles is expected to open next month. In addition to the groundbreaking in Redding, CDVA also broke ground recently on the Veterans Home of California, Fresno.
