By Tasha Anderson for Arizona Builder’s Exchange
An application for Planning Hearing Officer Action for a new Veterans Administration Medical Clinic has been submitted to the City of Phoenix Planning and Zoning Department.
The applicant, US Federal Properties Co., LLC, has requested modifications to previously approved zoning stipulations in order to develop a 5-story, 275KSF VA outpatient treatment facility at the northwest corner of 32nd St and Van Buren St.
The 16.19-acre project site is mostly vacant with the exception of an office and retail building at the northeast corner. Along with the facility, the project will also include surface parking and a level of structured parking at the northeast corner of the site. Open public parking will also be included along Van Buren St.
“In order to proceed with this development, a modification to the previously approved zoning stipulations related to the prior site plan is required to accommodate the proposed medical clinic and the required design standards of the Veterans Administration,” states the application.
The modifications will allow the development to be consistent with the standards of the Walkable Urban Code zoning of the site and will also account for the security concerns related to development as a federal Veterans medical clinic. According to the application, “this property will be fully secured after hours and monitored on a 24-hour basis by security staff and therefore providing cross block access to the general public through a fully secured facility is not possible.”
Background
Back in May 2017, The Department of Veterans Affairs and representative, Savills-Studley, issued a Request for Proposals for a firm to develop the property at 32nd St and Van Buren, and then lease the space back to the VA.
“The Department of Veterans Affairs is soliciting up to a 20-year lease for 203K Net Usable Square Feet of space for use by VA…” the solicitation states. “Space shall be located in a quality new building, constructed of sound and substantial construction…”.
The solicitation due date was September 2017 and a lease award was issued in September 2018 with US Federal Properties Co., LLC as the awardee in the amount of approximately $32.1M.
The application will be heard at the city’s Planning Hearing meeting on February 20th.