Dorn Medical Center to build parking garage

Parking is about to get easier at the Dorn Veterans Administration Medical Center in Columbia.

The Veterans Administration plans to build a parking garage behind Building 100 — one of two mental health clinics at the facility on Garner’s Ferry Road near Interstate 77. The garage will go on the location of a present surface lot and will result in a gain of 322 spaces.

“We have a real need for expanding parking there,” said Dorn spokesman Bob Hall.

The need will increase as the hospital expands its services. Money has been allocated to build an outpatient clinic and to design three other facilities, Hall said.

The Veterans Administration is soliciting bids for the parking structure, with the construction expected to cost $8.9 million.

Parking long has been at a premium at the region’s main VA medical center. Veterans, many in wheelchairs or physically challenged in other ways, depend on friends or relatives to drop them off. Many visitors to the hospital must park in remote gravel overflow lots, especially between the hours of 8:30 a.m. and 10:30 a.m.

The hospital’s website suggests vets use free valet parking at the canopy entrance of Building 100. The valet service operates from 8:30 a.m. until 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday.

The facility also has a shuttle service to bring people from the farthest lots.

Hall said parking will remain an issue even if the USC School of Medicine leaves the campus. The school is considering a move to 14 acres the university owns near Palmetto Health Richland hospital, Hall said..

The university wants to build a $200 million health-care campus for its School of Medicine and is asking for $50 million from state lawmakers to jump-start the project.

The USC School of Medicine’s lease with the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs site ends in 2030. The Garners Ferry building needs $75 million in improvements, university officials said, adding rent is expected to increase to $7.5 million a year under a new lease from the current $1.

Hall said the potential move had no effect on the medical center’s decision to build the garage.

“That’s a long way off,” he said.