The Department of Veterans Affairs has signed a 20-year lease on a 76,000-square-foot VA outpatient clinic in Colorado Springs that has been green-lighted, but is at least two years from opening.

Rep. Doug Lamborn, R-Colo., announced the lease on the Community-Based Outpatient Clinic, which will sit on 18 acres at the corner of West Fillmore Street and Centennial Boulevard and include dental and mental health services, a pharmacy, home-based primary care, substance abuse treatment, a laboratory, radiological services and other medical services.

“Colorado Springs is home to nearly 100,000 veterans and their families,” Lamborn said in a statement. “This new clinic is further evidence that the Veterans Administration recognizes their growing numbers and is committed to providing them the best medical care.”

The VA has moved more toward leasing facilities, rather than buying them, for a number of reasons, said Rebecca C. Keough, assistant director of the Eastern Colorado Healthcare System.

“The population shifts regularly. If we buy a building, it means that veterans will have to travel to get there,” she said. “And beyond that, it’s extremely costly to maintain an established facility. The VA has a lot of buildings built in the ‘40s and ‘50s, and they are very costly to maintain.”

US Federal Properties Co., a Kansas City-based real estate company, will develop and own the property. It has 35 properties in 14 states, and leases to other federal agencies including the FBI and Environmental Protection Agency.

Congress OK’d $10 million for the project last year. It will be twice the size of the current clinic space, which is spread out over two buildings — one on North Spruce Street and the other on East Fontanero Street.