At a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new Fredericksburg Veterans Affairs Healthcare Center (HCC) Friday afternoon, officials boasted about the 471,000-square-foot facility being the largest VA outpatient clinic in the nation.

“It is larger than 10 [hospitals] in the VA’s inventory,” said acting Veterans Integrated Service Network 6 Director Jonathan Benoit. “When people drive by here, they think it’s a hospital.”

Benoit informed those who complained in the past about the lack of parking at the VA in Richmond that there are 2,600 parking spaces available at the Spotsylvania County facility, which is located at 10432 Patriot Highway and opens on Monday.

U.S. Sens. Mark Warner (D-Virginia) and Tim Kaine (D-Virginia) and U.S. Rep. Eugene Vindman (D-7th District) were present for the ceremony.

The new VA will consolidate three former sites within the Fredericksburg area. Approximately 23,000 veterans are currently served in the area, with a stated goal of serving up to 35,000 at the new facility in the next five years. Kaine said one out of every nine Virginians are veterans, and the Fredericksburg area has one of the fastest-growing veteran populations in the nation.