Hiring has begun and a construction completion date of Feb. 14 is being eyed for the Robert E. Spiller Bowling Green Veterans Center, a skilled nursing facility in the Kentucky Transpark that will serve up to 60 veterans.

Mark Bowman, executive director of the Office of Kentucky Veterans Centers within the Kentucky Department of Veterans Affairs, said the facility’s leadership team is currently being assembled, with the filling of nurse positions to follow.

“It makes it a whole lot better when you hire a manager that’s allowed to hire their own team,” he said.

The facility has been in the works for years, with discussions on constructing a home for veterans going as far back as the 1990s. Dirt was turned on the 80,000 square-foot facility in November 2022, and is forecast to bring over 130 new jobs to the region once finished.

The Kentucky General Assembly this year appropriated $28 million for the project. It will be the fifth of its kind in the state, with similar facilities currently open in Radcliff, Hazard, Hanson and Wilmore.

Bowman said if the Valentine’s Day completion date for construction is met, residents would start moving in as early as April or May. However, nothing is set in stone just yet.

“We have to get recognized with the VA and (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services), get all that staff in and build those systems,” he said. “So that’s kind of an approximate time, no guarantees, but hopefully we can solidify that pretty soon.”

Bowman said many different factors have delayed the facility’s opening over the years, from issues with state funding to the rising costs of materials during the COVID-19 pandemic and the struggle to find land for the facility.

He credits State Rep. Michael Meredith, R-Oakland, with securing state funding for the project.

“When that bid was put out for that project, it came in much higher than we had expected,” he said. “But the legislature and the governor’s office and everybody came together in a very unified fashion saying, ‘Okay, we’re going to get some funding to make sure that we don’t go backwards on this project.’ ”

He said additional aid came from the donation of 25 acres of land from the Transpark.

Meredith told the Daily News another reason for the two month delay in opening is due to some thefts of building materials from the construction site earlier this year.

“(We) seem to be relatively close on radar, but it’s going to be right about two months behind, probably, what the initial thought was,” Meredith said. “But again, they’re making progress in other ways, as far as hiring and things of that nature as well.”

Meredith said when the planning process began, the original hope was to have 120 beds in the facility. He said negotiations lowered that number to 90 but, as material costs for construction rose from 2018 to 2022, the number was cut down to 60.

If the facility is filled to capacity and staffing needs down the road grow, he said, the 30 remaining beds may be added in the future.

“I think we’re going to have plenty of need as far as veterans wanting to use it,” Meredith said. But making sure we’ve got the staff to staff it – If we can do that, then I think probably in the coming years we will go back and try to get that additional 30 beds, but it may be a year or two before we go there.”

Speaking on what the home will mean for veterans, tier families and the community as a whole, Meredith credits local and state officials as well as the federal government for stepping in “at every turn.”

“Everybody was always on board to do the best that they could for this project and to see it all come together,” he said. “It makes you feel good about the things you get to be a part of in this role.”