VCU Health celebrated a significant milestone in the redevelopment of its downtown medical campus with the groundbreaking for a $349.2-million outpatient facility in Richmond, Virginia. The facility is the largest capital construction project in VCU Health’s history.
Located on the grounds of the former Virginia Treatment Center for Children, the building will unite an array of outpatient services and collaborative spaces for 
research and teaching. The initial design and construction phase will cost an estimated $77.3 million. The estimated completion date is summer 2020.
The 16-story, 603,000-square-foot building will consolidate the majority of VCU Massey Cancer Center’s outpatient services on the downtown medical campus, and house a variety of outpatient clinics at the Ambulatory Care Center, North Hospital and Nelson Clinic.
The new outpatient facility will include a 472,000-square-foot parking deck with more than 1,000 spaces, increasing patient and visitor parking options.
Deborah Davis, CEO of VCU Hospitals and Clinics and vice president for clinical affairs at VCU, said the new building will go beyond changing the skyline of Richmond, and will challenge people to think differently about academic care delivery.
“We are inviting people to gain a new perspective on what to expect from an academic health center in terms of patient experience,” Davis said. “The outpatient facility sets a new standard of patient experience, convenience and comfort.”
Developed with ongoing input from patient and family advisory committees at VCU Health, the space will be a hub for comprehensive outpatient healthcare. Patients will benefit from onsite laboratory services, medical imaging, women’s services and rehabilitation services that include physical, occupational and speech therapy. Further consolidating care, outpatient orthopedics, pulmonology and urology, which previously were housed in adjacent locations, will also relocate to the outpatient facility.
With an increasing amount of cancer care provided in outpatient settings, the new building will feature a dedicated tower for ambulatory oncology care. VCU Massey Cancer Center will have its own entrance, lobby, elevators, clinics, radiation and infusion treatment areas, patient resource spaces and dedicated valet and self-parking areas.
In addition to providing a space for leading clinical care, the building will feature innovative technology and collaborative spaces to enhance the research and teaching missions of VCU and VCU Health.
Hourigan is the general contractor and HDR is the architect.
For weekly construction reports and real-time views of the building site, visit vcuhealth.org.
