WASHINGTON — The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has announced plans to transfer 85.4 acres of land from the North Chicago VA Medical Center to the Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science.
“Savings resulting from the transfer of land will enable VA to support its ongoing efforts to improve health care services to Veterans in the Chicago area by better aligning facilities and assets,” said Dr. Gerald M. Cross, VA’s Acting Under Secretary for Health.
The university has agreed to use the land solely for the purpose of educating students in the health sciences, a significant part of VA’s mission. Since 2002, the university has been using the property under an enhanced-use lease agreement with VA. The Secretary of Veterans Affairs recently determined that the majority of the land leased to the university would not be needed by VA in the future.
The transfer agreement also facilitates the use of 8.5 acres to be used for the planned Joint Federal Health Care Facility to be shared by VA and the Navy. The transfer will save VA the cost of maintaining property it no longer needs.
The property has been most recently used as a staging area for construction of the Captain James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center, a joint VA and Department of Defense medical facility scheduled to open in late 2010.
###
Reporters and media outlets with questions or comments should contact the Office of Media Relations at vapublicaffairs@va.gov
Veterans with questions about their health care and benefits (including GI Bill). Questions, updates and documents can be submitted online.
Veterans can also use our chatbot to get information about VA benefits and services. The chatbot won’t connect you with a person, but it can show you where to go on VA.gov to find answers to some common questions.
Subscribe today to receive these news releases in your inbox.
