UCSD Land Acquisition & Renovate Patient/Visitor Surface Parking Lot

***Note: This Major Construction sole purpose is to purchase land and do a complete surface parking renovation only. Construction cost was inputted to allow Action plan to be submitted due to database error stating: "Total Project cost must be greater or equal than $20M" Actual Cost for Land Purchase is estimated at $109-635-019 and surface parking renovation/re-stripping of $300k making it a total land purchase and surface parking renovation project cost of $109-935-019.This project is Land Acquisition only and will purchase approximately 15.79 acres (Gross land Area) of University of California San Diego (UCSD) property. UCSD currently allows VA San Diego to use 5.95 acres (Net land Area) for patient & staff parking free of charge- but no lease or other instrument is in place legally securing the land for VA use. The existing asphalt surface parking lots (5.95 acres) on the property have a capacity of approximately 596 surface spaces and the remaining (9.84 acres) is un-developed land. This project singular focus is to purchase (15.79 acres) and to resurface (5.95 net usable acres) to allow VA San Diego Healthcare System (VASDHS) to continue to provide parking for patient- visitors and our essential employees as well as to proceed with next steps on our 10-year Master Plan. Master Plan is focused on Veteran's need- focus resources to have a better outcome for our staff and veterans- expand and modernize our campus to meet current demand- and to provide additional facilities/services to allow timeliness of services to our veterans. The new land space will help construct new facilities to expand care in all high demand services which will include incorporating state-of-the-art PACT team system for primary care- mental health- women's health- and specialty care. The new facilities can be collaboration with DOD- MCAS Miramar- and Naval Base Point Loma. Purchasing the land can also allow future growth in parking and constructing a new independent entrance to VASDHS campus since our only way of accessing our campus is by entering UCSD campus. Due to the impact of COVID-19 pandemic- soon there will be a need to develop a centralized tele-health hub which can become a shared space with other facilities within VISN as well as other partners. VASDHS has plans to submit a new construction project to build-out a new research and development facility (R&D) on the new land purchase to allow the main medical center (Building 1) 6th floor to vacant and expand surgical suites to provide more utilization of general surgery/etc. This project will address the priority of future shortcomings in space for the fast growing San Diego population- eliminate lack of parking spaces for all- discontinue ongoing cost of providing off-site parking and transportation- construct and expand new facilities to meet rapid demand of all services (clinical and non-clinical)- collaborate with other partner near our facilities (DOD- MCAS Miramar- Naval Base Point- VISN tele-health hub) to assist with lack of resources- and to continue to provide the best benefits for Veteran Healthcare. The land purchase is adjacent to VASDHS campus located 3350 La Jolla Village Dr. San Diego- CA 92161 (refer to attachment) owned by UCSD. The land consist of 583 usable surface parking- access- and pedestrian walkway while the remaining (9.84 acres) is undeveloped land and will be developed with future minor construction project submittals. UCSD is in current agreement of allowing us to purchase the land to help us expand and meet current/future demand. VASDHS existing Medical Center (Building 1) and campus can no longer support any more expansion due to the limitation of seismic- integrity of existing structure- and lack of feasible space to be built on. VASDHS is drastically running out of space for both clinical and non-clinical staff- even by designing towards freeze the footprint and other criteria that improves space usage- we end up sacrificing space for our non-clinical support to allow clinical service to continue to operate efficiently. By doing this- our non-clinical support suffer by being forced into limited amount of space that shouldn't be considered a healthy working environment causing an increase of turnover due to this unsatisfactory with our employees. Without the proper amount of space of non-clinical staff to support the clinics- the clinics too will show deficiency in their operation. By purchasing the land- new construction will correct all of these deficiency by developing a modernize efficient work environment and increase our retention of staff to continue providing the best care for our Veterans.The land is immediately adjacent to the VA San Diego Medical Center main campus in La Jolla. Comparable property value in the La Jolla area ranges from $4.3 million to $8 million per acre (depending on market). If the VA does not own the property or have a legal license- lease- or MOU- the VA Police Service does not have any jurisdiction in that parking area. They cannot enforce traffic violations- respond to active threat/shooter situation (emergency disaster)- and they have been unable to investigate thefts of vehicles on a couple of occasions. UCSD is in agreement to sell VA the land- but if we were to not take action of this opportunity- the lost will impact our facility in several ways. Impact would include causing employees to be removed from parking onsite to allowing sufficient amount of space for patient/visitor parking. This will increase commute time for employees which has proven to be a significant dissatisfier in terms of employee satisfaction and has also been a contributing factor hindering recruitment and retention of employees as well as impacting the operation of the Medical Center. If VASDHS were to force patients and visitors to parking offsite- this will cost the VA several millions of dollars to execute and maintain an off-site lot and transportation. Not only VASDHS would have to maintain an off-site lot and transportation- we would take the risk of being liable for any unforeseen injuries that may occur during the transportation- not providing proper ADA requirement (parking/transportation)- and causing patients to be late for appointments. Further- the need for this land is not temporary. It will be needed if VA San Diego resides at its current site in La Jolla and is the only opportunity for further growth and expansion as all the currently owned government property is fully developed. No current planning scenario calls for VA San Diego to close or relocate from its current site on any timeline under consideration. It makes more sense to purchase the land than to lease it indefinitely. By purchasing the land- future plans will be developed to submit business cases for actionable joint patient care (DOD- MCAS Miramar- and Naval Base Point Loma) collaboration projects.