Blanca Corchado, facility planner for VA North Texas, told the Garland City Council on Monday that renovations completed in December and planned service moves will let the Garland VA Medical Center serve more veterans.

“We did our grand opening for what y’all used to be known as Medical Plaza 1,” Corchado said. “We are projecting at least 800 new veterans to come over to this facility to start seeing their primary care visits there.”

Corchado said the facility completed renovations to Medical Plaza 1 and relocated primary-care teams and an expanded physical medicine and rehabilitation footprint, including a larger gym for physical and occupational therapy. She said those moves are not a technical expansion of clinical licenses but, because of space, should shift patient loads from nearby facilities.

Why it matters: City officials and council members pressed for specifics because moves of services between VA campuses can change local traffic, demand for parking and support services, and the range of care available inside Garland. Councilors welcomed the news that the facility will offer services that previously required travel to Dallas or Plano.

Planned additions and timing
Corchado listed services the VA plans to operate at Garland soon: a mental-health clinic the VA expects to begin offering in March or April, prosthetics, dental services, and additional radiology (including general radiology and ultrasound). She said the VA’s “Care For Me Now” cancer infusion program — a pilot that brings certain infusions to community-based outpatient clinics — will move to Garland as part of early rollouts. She said the VA is also working to relocate a 19‑bed hospice unit from the Dallas campus to Garland but described that as still in progress with “small hiccups.”

The VA is also planning a CT imaging project that Corchado said is a construction award the agency hopes to complete by the end of the VA’s next fiscal year. Corchado described a longer-term capital program: “We are planning to remodel about every square foot of that facility” over multiple projects including pathology and lab services, outpatient pharmacy and radiology phasing.

Council follow-up and questions
Councilors asked whether new mental-health services will replace Dallas-area care or expand it; Corchado said Garland will provide an expansion and not a relocation of existing Dallas mental‑health services. Councilor Williams asked whether professional office buildings adjacent to the campus were part of the VA property; Corchado said the VA’s work covers only the campus property (23100 Marie Curie), and other professional buildings are privately owned.

Council members who said they had visited the site described extensive work on mechanical systems and energy infrastructure and expressed relief the facility is activating services after a long renovation period. Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Blunt asked for a duration for the overall remodeling program; Corchado replied the VA has requested design funding for about seven years and that construction scheduling beyond that depends on individual project timelines.

What the VA did not say
Corchado provided projected timing and named services the VA plans to offer but did not give firm dates for full completion of all renovation projects or a staffing timetable for each new clinic beyond general target seasons. She did not provide a precise schedule or budget for the 19‑bed hospice move or the CT imaging award beyond the general fiscal-year target.

Speakers quoted or cited in this article appear in the meeting record and were present at the council work session.

Ending note
City officials said they will continue to coordinate with VA project staff and that the council welcomes further updates as the VA brings services online.