Eye Vets’ Clinic in Rio

RIO GRANDE – Since closing in March 2017, the Kmart building in Rio Grande has sat vacant, a hulking reminder of the economic difficulties of some of America’s biggest retailers. Around the country, stores like these and even abandoned shopping malls are being repurposed into living quarters, medical facilities, colleges, and office space. The latter is the fate of the Kmart building.
Freeholders passed two resolutions Oct. 9 that will turn the former Kmart into office space for the county and state, and talks are underway to include a medical clinic for veterans.
The first resolution authorized competitive contracting for architectural services related to renovating and configuring the massive 62,000-square-foot building.
A resolution later in the meeting was approved to lease the property.
Freeholder Director Gerald Thornton explained during the meeting that the resolutions were the initial stage of the project.
The lease agreement, signed Oct. 12, is for an initial 20 years with options thereafter to renew.
Cost to lease the building is $10 per square foot or $620,000 per year for the first five years, with 12.5 percent increases for every five years thereafter.
Thornton said he and Freeholder Jeffrey Pierson, a retired National Guard brigadier general, recently met with U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) officials in Vineland as approval for a veterans clinic at that location would be needed from the VA.
County Public Information Officer Diane Weiland said that county offices, likely Social Services, would move there, along with the county veterans’ services office and possibly others.
Social Services and the county veterans’ office are located on Route 9, directly behind the Kmart building.
Pierson said a veterans’ clinic in Rio Grande would make obtaining services easier for those who served their country.
“The Community Based Outpatient Clinic would be more centrally located within the county on major transportation routes. It will be adjacent to all the county Social Services as well as our own Veterans’ Bureau and closer to the veteran population,” Pierson explained.
The VA clinic at the Coast Guard Training Center in Cape May can be difficult to access, according to Pierson.
“The facility at the U.S. Coast Guard station requires going through a checkpoint for ID before you get on base, and the facility is well past its lifetime. There will be improved services and equipment, together with a meeting room for veterans’ meetings and events. It should be much better for all county veterans and visitors to our county.”
To contact Carl Price, email cprice@cmcherald.com.