VA commissions 135K-square-foot outpatient clinic in Sarasota County

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has selected a project team for a new 135,000-square-foot outpatient clinic to serve veterans in Sarasota and Manatee counties. Spanning two stories, the clinic will be at 2390 Lakewood Ranch Blvd., in a fast-growing area near Fruitville Commons. It will have about 200 employees, according to VA documents. 

The VA awarded the rights to develop, own and lease the new clinic to CMI Cullinan JV LLC, a joint venture between Illinois-based commercial and mixed-use developer Cullinan Properties and North Carolina design-build firm Construction Managers. Bay Pines VA Healthcare System will operate the facility, which will provide veterans with primary care, mental health, audiology, dental, prosthetics, laboratory and pharmacy services; an eye clinic; telehealth; physical and occupational therapy; and ancillary and diagnostic services.

Additional members of the project team, according to a statement, include Nebraska architecture and design firm Leo A Daly; general contractor Hoar Construction, headquartered in Alabama; and Massachusetts civil engineering firm Vanasse Hangen Brustlin, Inc.

Construction is projected to start in summer 2027 and be complete in two years, with the first patients expected in fall 2029, according to the statement. Cullinan Properties did not immediately respond to a question regarding the cost of the project.

“Sarasota’s veteran community has been waiting for a facility built around their needs, and this clinic delivers it — more specialty care, closer to home, in one location,” Ginger Benz, president of government solutions and business strategy for Cullinan Properties, says in the statement. “We are grateful to the VA and the Bay Pines Health Care System for their trust and look forward to bringing this clinic to life.”

Cullinan Properties has more than 40 years of experience as a commercial mixed-use, governmental, multifamily and medical office development firm, including work with the Department of Veterans Affairs and the General Services Administration. The firm developed the 150,000-square-foot Temple Terrace VA Clinic, which opened in 2023 in Hillsborough County. 

Construction Managers is a service-disabled veteran-owned small business that specializes in healthcare and federal facilities. The Sarasota County clinic marks the 19th VA clinic the firm will build.