A nursing care facility for veterans should be ready to open by early next year.

State lawmakers and community leaders gathered at the Kentucky Trans Park in Bowling Green this morning for a progress report.

They say the building is about 60% complete and will have 60 beds.

It will serve veterans in 17 surrounding counties.

Bowling Green was chosen for the $50 million project over a site in eastern Kentucky.

Up to it, we knew as legislators that it needed to be here because of our proximity to Fort Knox and Fort Campbell and the growth in our region, the number of veterans here.

But they went through the process of almost doing a certificate of need for health care to prove that need here in our community and in our region.

And that was what really pushed us over the top, because the Kentucky Department of Veterans Affairs had the request from both places, and they had to show bowling greens where this facility needed to be.

And it certainly did show that it's going to be a beautiful facility.

It's a community living concept facility, which means that each veteran will have their own suite, private suite, living area, and then access to the to the common areas as well.

But it'll be a very private setting for our veterans.

It's going to be very, very nice.

That's why the Veterans Center is now hiring for its executive leadership team.

Later the summer, veterans can apply for insurance through the Kentucky Department of Veterans Affairs.

The project is expected to be finished by December.