Veterans in the Tri-Cities got a long-awaited sign of progress earlier Thursday as officials broke ground on a new VA outpatient clinic in Kennewick’s Southridge area, across from Trios Health. The ceremony was held at the future clinic site, 3811 Plaza Way, on nearly 12 acres of land that will eventually house a facility far larger than the cramped Richland clinic veterans currently rely on.
The groundbreaking ceremony was scheduled for 11 a.m. at the site, according to Elkhorn Media Group. The planned two-story facility is supported by $48.2 million in federal funding authorized under the 2022 PACT Act, the outlet reported, and is intended to replace the aging Richland VA Clinic currently housed in the Richland Federal Building. Apple Valley News Now reported that Dan Hanson attended the groundbreaking ceremony, and the station said it planned to share more details about the clinic in its newscasts that night.
A Much Bigger Footprint Than the Current Clinic
Just how big the new building will be depends on which report you read. Elkhorn Media Group described the planned facility as a 100,000-square-foot, two-story structure. The Tri-City Herald, in one report, put the figure at 130,000 square feet with up to 700 parking spaces on about 12 acres at the Plaza Way address, while a separate Tri-City Herald report based on planning documents described a 124,000-square-foot building with 672 parking spots, up to 32 feet in height.
Whatever the final number, it dwarfs what’s there now. The current Richland clinic is only 9,800 square feet, according to the Herald’s reporting. For comparison, Trios Health’s nearby Southridge hospital, located across the street from the new VA site, was 160,000 square feet and cost $63 million to build, per a 2012 building permit cited by the Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business.
New Services Aim to Keep Care Local
Beyond square footage, the real draw for veterans is what the building will offer once it opens. Elkhorn Media Group reported that planned services include primary care, mental health services, a pharmacy, radiology, physical therapy and dental care. The clinic will also house optometry, audiology, prosthetics, laboratory services, and supportive housing and home-based primary care programs, the outlet noted.
Officials said the goal is to cut down on trips many veterans currently have to make for specialized care that previously required trips to Walla Walla, Seattle, or other Department of Veterans Affairs facilities, per the same report. That expansion matters in a region with a sizable veteran population: there were nearly 15,000 veterans living in Benton and Franklin counties in 2024, according to the Tri-City Herald’s review of planning documents. The new clinic itself is expected to serve about 9,000 veterans, the Herald reported separately.
Budget and Timeline Still Taking Shape
Money and scheduling details have shifted across reports as the project has moved from planning to groundbreaking. One Tri-City Herald report cited Kennewick building records listing a project value of $35 million, though the total budget is expected to be more than $48 million. Ryan Companies US Inc. was identified as the clinic’s builder, the Herald reported.
The construction timeline has also varied by report. An earlier Tri-City Herald story said construction was expected to start in October and be completed in late summer of 2028, while Elkhorn Media Group reported that construction was expected to begin following Thursday’s groundbreaking, with the clinic projected to open in early 2029. Either way, Tri-Cities veterans now have a firm site, a funding source, and a ceremony behind them as the project moves toward construction.
