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Perlmutter, Vets Mark Start Of New VA Hospital

AURORA, Colo. (AP) - Colorado congressman Ed Perlmutter and Denver-area veterans celebrated the start of construction on a new veterans hospital.

They gathered in Aurora Monday at the site of the new hospital that will serve veterans from Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska and Wyoming.

A groundbreaking was held there over two years ago but a construction contract wasn't signed until this month.

The Veterans Affairs Department has said negotiations were lengthy and difficult but offered no details.

The $580.2 million hospital will replace a 59-year-old facility in southeast Denver. It will have a dedicated spinal cord injury unit, nursing home and comprehensive in and out-patient services.

It's scheduled to be completed by early 2015.

(© Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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