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Milford,
DE—
A year from
now, the City of Milford will be celebrating the completion of
one of the area’s most prominent new facilities – the State of
Delaware Veterans Home.
The 150-bed,
skilled care nursing facility is significant for both the
economic impact to Milford, and the value it adds to the state
by allowing Delaware to no longer be one of only three states
without a veteran’s home.
“One of the
happiest days in my life was the morning I received the call
that it [Delaware Veterans Home] was going to be here. It’s a
project that has been near and dear to my heart.” said Milford
City Manager Richard Carmean.
The veteran’s
home could create a couple hundred new jobs in Milford,
according to Carmean. The broad spectrum of available positions
that it would create range from janitors and chefs to doctors,
nurses, and therapists. Carmean added that he believes Milford
is an ideal central location for the state facility.
After several
years of working to get the project approved, state officials
and the Veterans Affairs administration selected the 23-acre
site at the intersection of Airport and Canterbury Roads early
last year. In April 2005, Gov. Ruth Ann Minner signed a contract
with design-builder Nason Construction, Inc., which is based in
Wilmington, DE with offices in Salisbury, MD and Philadelphia,
PA. Nason Construction partnered with the architectural team of
GBQC/Becker Morgan JV to provide planning, design and
construction oversight of the 105,000 square foot facility.
“Everybody is
tickled to death – it’s a very positive thing,” Carmean said
when talking about the response of the community to the project.
According to state officials, about 80,000 veterans live in
Delaware and more than 30,000 are older than 65; this facility
will be available to all of them.
The estimated
$29 million Delaware Veterans Home is scheduled for substantial
completion around the end of the year.
The design of the facility is a “town
square” scheme where the public areas, such as the dining room,
library, chapel, and game room, are centrally located and
flanked by the residential wings.
Currently on
the site, the concrete slabs are nearly completed and steel
trusses continue to be put in place on the residential wings.
The Nason team is preparing to install the roof tops of the
resident’s wings and will soon begin erecting structural steel.
Nason has worked closely with QBQC/Becker Morgan JV and the
steering committee to keep the project moving.
Even though
rain, snow, and cold winter weather have been a major challenge,
Nason’s Senior Project Manager Fred Doster said, “The job is
proceeding on schedule.”
The project
steering committee providing oversight on this project includes
Harriet Smith Windsor, Secretary of State; Senator George
Bunting, Jr.; Jennifer Davis, Director, Office of the Budget;
Keith Warrant, Policy Advisor Executive Office of the Governor;
and Antonio Davila, Director of Veterans Affairs among others.
This committee has been the driving force behind getting the
project approved and creating awareness for the need of the
veteran’s home.
As a testament
to the anticipation of this project, nearly 500 people attended
the official groundbreaking ceremony held in August 2005. “It
could be said that those of you who are going to live here have
literally paved the way for freedom,” Senator Joseph Biden
commented during remarks at the ceremony. “In constructing this
Veterans Home, we are paying back a debt of gratitude we owe to
the veteran community.”
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For more information on Nason Construction, Inc. please contact
Julleanna Seely at jseely@nasonconstruction.com or visit
www.nasonconstruction.com.
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