As groundbreakings go, Wednesday’s in the Kentucky Transpark would hardly register on the investment or job-creation scale, paling in comparison to other monstrous industrial developments that have come to the industrial park in recent months.

Yet the elected officials who hefted small shovelfuls of dirt Wednesday knew full well that others had moved heaven and earth for more than a decade to bring this 120-employee, $50 million project to fruition.

The Bowling Green Veterans Center, an 80,000-square-foot, 60-bed nursing facility for military veterans, was finally becoming a reality.

As he kicked off a string of speakers at the event, Gov. Andy Beshear made it clear that he understood the significance of the ceremony and the work by veterans advocates to make it happen.

“This is as meaningful as any groundbreaking I’ve ever been a part of,” Beshear told a crowd of more than 100 people huddled inside and around a tent set up for the occasion. “This project was about three decades in the making.”

Beshear was referring to the early advocacy for the center done by members of the Cumberland Trace chapter of the Military Officers Association of America, led by Ray Biggerstaff, Bill Lytle and the late Robert Spiller.

The work of those men was acknowledged by several speakers Wednesday.

Pointing out that the 25-acre site for the veterans center along Mizpah Road that was donated by the Transpark’s governing body is only a couple miles from Spiller’s former home, U.S. Rep. Brett Guthrie said: “Bob Spiller isn’t here, unfortunately, but he’s looking down on us.

“The No. 1 thing for him was this nursing home. It went on way too long. I remember Speaker (of the Kentucky) House (Jody) Richards working on it when I was in the state Senate (2000-08).”

Like Guthrie, State Sen. Mike Wilson acknowledged the contributions of Biggerstaff and Lytle – who were present Wednesday – and Spiller.

“It was their vision, and they went out and did it,” Wilson said of the three men who spearheaded an effort that involved working with federal, state and local officials. “If those three gentlemen hadn’t done the work, we wouldn’t be standing here today.”

It was never a certainty until recent months that a groundbreaking would ever be held for a Bowling Green Veterans Center.

Its advocates fought through partisan politics and navigated the maze of getting federal funding and the struggles to find an acceptable site, only to have the project nearly derailed this summer by construction bids that came in over budget.

What was originally planned as a 90-bed, $30 million project was inflated to the $50 million figure despite being scaled back to 60 beds.

Beshear and members of the General Assembly, though, have promised to make up the difference when the state legislature starts its session in January.

“This isn’t Red-vs.-Blue,” the Democrat governor said. “It’s just the right thing to do.”

No one could agree more than State Rep. Michael Meredith, a Brownsville Republican who has made the veterans center one of his priorities during his 12 years in Frankfort.

“When you think about the path it has taken and the roadblocks we’ve overcome, there’s a whole lot of emotion that comes with it,” Meredith said in October when the groundbreaking date was announced.

Although the Bowling Green nursing home is smaller than originally envisioned and will be the smallest of Kentucky’s five veterans centers, Meredith believes the need for the facility in this region will lead to growth.

Meredith said the contractor, A&K Construction of Paducah, will build a center that can easily be expanded.

“If we get to a point where we can fully fill those 60 beds, we can make the case to build on,” he said. “We’d like to build an additional 30 beds and get to 90. I think the site will accommodate that.”