The federal Department of Veterans Affairs plans to build a sizable behavioral health clinic in Eugene for Lane County area vets. But the agency apparently doesn’t want to tell the public — or veterans — about it.
Records reviewed by Eugene Weekly show the VA’s chosen developer is already working with city of Eugene planning staff on details for the 20,000-square-foot clinic building to be constructed on Chad Drive in northeast Eugene, next to the existing VA medical center. The VA awarded the project to the developer, Linn County-based Blackhawk LLC, on Feb. 21, VA bid records show.
You’d think the agency would trumpet this to veterans. But vet leaders in Eugene say they had not heard of the project until EW told them about it. The Weekly emailed and phoned VA officials — including the project’s leaders and VA communications staff in Oregon and Washington, D.C. EW also left messages with Blackhawk and its architect for the project. Not a single one responded.
Even with the formal selection of Blackhawk, it’s fair to wonder whether President Donald Trump and his associate, Elon Musk, will shoot down the project in order to save money. News reports paint the VA as being in chaos, reeling from staffing cuts, changes in facilities and altered working conditions.
Area veterans currently get behavioral health counseling at the downtown Eugene VA center and at the Eugene Federal Building, says Arnold Christensen, quartermaster at the 273-member VFW post at the Veterans Memorial Center on Willamette Street in Eugene. Christensen says he hadn’t heard about the Chad Drive project. “Maybe they’re trying to consolidate it all under one roof,” he says.
Christensen said there’s plenty of need for behavioral health services, particularly among younger veterans returning from recent deployments. “A lot of it is the group thing, sitting in groups and talking about their experiences and about what they are going through day to day,” he says. Christensen served in Vietnam and recalls that back then the VA provided no such help.
Lane County is home to about 27,000 veterans, according to the VA.
The VA’s records show Blackhawk would build the facility, which would be owned by investors, but would be leased to the VA for 15 years or more. A 2028 opening is projected.
Plans submitted to the city show a building with 12 to 18 individual “exam” rooms, two “classrooms,” four “team work” rooms, “mental health teamwork” areas and other facilities.
The facility would enable the VA to expand its tele-health work for mental health, as well as help homeless vets, says the request for proposals the VA issued last April. In the specs, the VA doesn’t want the clinic sited next to noisy highways, places where firearms are sold or discharged, pot or liquor stores, bars that serve liquor or strip clubs.
The VA apparently has never announced the project to the media, and it apparently has never been publicized locally.
The clinic would go on a three-acre site owned by the local Chambers family, according to the plans Blackhawk submitted to the city. The Chambers family owns the adjacent complex that houses the KEZI TV station. The family previously owned the TV station business.
It’s common for the VA to have a developer/investor build a facility to VA specifications and then sign a long-term lease. That’s how the Eugene VA medical center was built. A developer bought the land from the local Baker family, which at that time owned The Register-Guard newspaper. The developer in 2016 built the facility for an estimated $47 million. The VA then leased it for 20 years, records show. The facility is now owned by a New Hampshire firm, Net Lease Capital. The company specializes in leasing to long-term single-tenant government and private-sector occupants, according to its website.
Bricks $ Mortar is a column anchored by Christian Wihtol, who worked as an editor and writer at The Register-Guard in Eugene 1990-2018, much of the time focused on real estate, economic development and business. Reach him at Christian@EugeneWeekly.com.