BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (AP) Ground has been broken for a skilled nursing care facility for veterans in Kentucky. The $50 million Bowling Green Veterans Center will create 120 jobs and provide 60 beds.
On Wednesday, Gov. Andy Beshear announced the City of Bowling Green and its officials will begin upgrades at the Kentucky Transpark behind a $1 million investment, building on one of the fastest-growing industrial parks in Kentucky.
More than a decade of diligent work and patient waiting will soon be rewarded for the local, state and federal leaders who have pursued one of southcentral Kentuckyâs top priorities: the establishment of a nursing home for military veterans.
Those leaders are celebrating the recent approval by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs of $19.5 million in federal funding for the building of the Bowling Green Veterans Center. Aside from actual construction, this approval was the final major hurdle to clear in order for the facility to become a brick-and-mortar reality.
The total price tag for the facility is $30 million, and advocates such as Ray Biggerstaff â who was a captain of a medevac unit during the Vietnam War and later spent 30 years teaching in the Department of Health and Safety at Western Kentucky University â previously worked to secure $10.5 million from the Kentucky General Assembly. That left a balance of $19.5 million, which had to be approved by the VA.