Veterans home gets $13.6 million grant

A federal grant awarded to the proposed state veterans home in Boulder City may clear the way for the project to break ground in June.

The $13.6 million grant was awarded Thursday by the Department of Veterans Affairs and will cover more than half the cost of the new home that had been scheduled for an April groundbreaking.

"This has been something that the state and Boulder City have worked on for a long time, and there is no doubt that it will be built," Boulder City manager John Sullard said. "The grading at the sight is completed. I think it was just a question of getting all the money in place."

The total cost of the state's first skilled-nursing home for military veterans is $19.3 million. The 180-bed facility will be built northwest of U.S. 93 near the MGM Grand's Boulder City golf courses.

The Nevada Legislature last year earmarked $6.8 million for the project, and the Nevada congressional and senate delegations worked to secure the grant for the home, Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., said.

"It was paramount that the VA award this grant," said Gibbons, a veteran of the Vietnam and Persian Gulf wars. "Nevada's veterans deserve the very best health care services and facilities that we can provide."

The home will be built on a 50-acre site near the golf courses, and the state has agreed to extend Industrial Road from U.S. 93 to the north boundary of the proposed Veterans Drive, which will circle the facility.

Part of the planned landscaping for Veterans Drive as it leads to the home will be provided by the Boulder City League of Republican Women.

The group has received an OK from the City Council to construct a veterans memorial along Veterans Drive.

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