The project consists of a two-story, 83,000-sf building campus at 3601 S. 6th Ave. The building, which will deliver in 2002, will be a state-of-the-art outpatient clinic. It will feature 90 exam rooms, eye clinic, women's health clinic, outpatient pharmacy, blood-draw center, radiology center and administrative offices.

The outpatient duties are now spread among three buildings on the campus, but will be relocated to the one upon construction completion. The consolidation is being undertaken to make it more convenient for the veterans visiting the campus. The three existing outpatient buildings, which were built in 1978, were designed to handle about 100,000 outpatient visits a year, but the actual number is more than three times that figure, as result of a shift in care at the hospital from inpatient to more outpatient, says hospital administrators.