The U.S. General Services Administration recently awarded a 20-year lease to build a new mental health clinic for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs in Tampa.

The new clinic will combine three existing undersized VA clinics throughout the greater Tampa metropolitan area into a new 144,000-sq.-ft. mental healthcare facility better able to serve the area’s growing veteran population.

Construction of the new clinic, located at Temple Terrace Highway and Davis Rd., will begin in spring 2022 and last approximately 18 months.

The new facility would replace the existing Psychology Rehab and Recovery Center, Tampa Domiciliary and the Tampa Mental Health Clinic, allowing the VA to consolidate, enhance and expand mental health services into a right-sized, state-of-the-art, energy efficient health care facility, including a 60-bed domiciliary and 800 parking spaces.

The new Tampa VA clinic is the second planned in the state of Florida. GSA recently signed a lease to build another community-based outpatient clinic in Lakeland, with construction slated to begin in early 2022.