PORTLAND — Friday, July 17, marked the groundbreaking of what will be the new Portland Community Based Outpatient Clinic (CBOC), located at 141 West Commercial Street in Portland.

This clinic will replace and consolidate the existing leases at the Saco and Portland CBOC’s once opened, with no disruption of care or services during this transition.

This clinic will allow VA Maine to expand services to Veterans in a 62,500 square foot right-sized, state-of-the-art, energy efficient facility.

This facility will allow for increased Veteran access to a core set of services and additional specialty care in the Southern part of Maine which will include the following: Primary Care, Mental Health, Surgical and Medicine Specialty services, Dental, Eye, Audiology, Physical Therapy, Prosthetics Support, Phlebotomy Lab, Radiology, and Telehealth.

The planned full deployment of tele-medicine technologies in the new clinic will further improve Veteran access to care in rural locations throughout Maine, according to VA Maine, in a news release.

The new outpatient clinic will also serve as a teaching site with space dedicated to enhance affiliate relationships with the Tufts Medical School and Maine Medical Center.

VA Maine first started planning for a large-scale replacement lease in 2010 that would increase capacity to provide the services needed in the southern Maine market. With approval coming in 2016 and the Presidential Budget request in 2018, VA Maine was able to begin moving forward. Since receiving funding approval, the project has worked through site selection, construction contract award to FDS JBB Portland LLC, and design completion.

“We are now scheduled for a planned construction completion timeframe of late Fall 2021 and an operational date of Winter 2021,” said VA Maine.

The new outpatient clinic will include a 250 space parking garage dedicated to Veterans and a 150 space surface parking lot for staff.

“We are working with the city of Portland to ensure public transportation access with a bus stop location either on the property or in front of property,” said the executive team.

The renderings show emblems of the eight uniformed services. Veterans of these services can receive health care benefits through the Department of Veterans Affairs. They include The United States Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Coast Guard, Air Force, Space Force, Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Commissioned Officer Corps.

Due to COVID-19 precautions, VA Maine could not open its groundbreaking celebration to the public.

“In lieu of this, we published a website with photos and information about the new clinic,” said the team. 

Click here for the website. 

“Please check back periodically for updated photos and information as construction progresses,” said VA Maine. “Please also take a moment to read the following letters from our Maine Congressional delegation who join us in celebrating this great undertaking. Their support was instrumental in securing funding for this project, and we appreciate their continued partnership with VA Maine.”