The Department of Veterans Affairs plans to put its Fort Wayne mental health clinic in an existing building rather than have one constructed.

The switch from an earlier recommendation by the VA means the clinic could open in 2013, nearly two years earlier than originally intended.

The department has narrowed its specifications for a 27,000-square-foot outpatient clinic, according to a notice inviting “expressions of interest” from prospective developers.

In its fiscal 2012 budget request, VA was to seek a developer for “a new, leased facility in close proximity” to Fort Wayne. But the notice now describes the project as existing office and clinic space on no more than two contiguous floors, with an open-floor plan that can be modified.

“The market research is showing that there is good potential for competitive bidders for existing buildings in the area, and that’s what we’re going to focus on,” said Jennifer Baran-Prall, public affairs officer for the VA Northern Indiana Health Care System.

The VA also has established geographic boundaries for the building – Washington Center and St. Joe Center roads on the north, Jefferson and Washington boulevards on the south, Maplecrest Road on the east and Lindenwood Avenue on the west.

The area is about a five-mile radius from the current VA Medical Center at Lake Avenue and Randallia Drive, Baran-Prall said.

“It was important that it wasn’t too far away from the parent facility,” she said about possible sites for the clinic.

On-site parking must offer a minimum of 165 spaces, with at least 10 percent of them meeting accessibility requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The expected occupancy date is September 2013. Under the previous proposal, construction was to have been completed in January 2015, with the clinic ready to open in March of that year.

Congress last year approved legislation containing $2.85 million for the clinic, which will provide treatment for military veterans who suffer post-traumatic stress disorder, substance abuse and other mental health disorders.

The VA will rent the clinic building for up to 20 years and pay market-value rent, according to the notice.

“Expressions of interest” – a sort of pre-bidding process – must be submitted in writing to the VA by 5 p.m. Feb. 21. Legal advertisements will be published in local newspapers.

Buildings that will be considered must be zoned for medical office use and lie outside the 100-year flood plain, according to the VA’s notice

The proposal for the outpatient clinic emerged last year after the VA abandoned a 2009 plan to replace its medical center with a 220,000-square-foot facility that would have cost nearly $140 million.

bfrancisco@jg.net