Virginia Tech's Vet Teaching Hospital Is Finally Getting Its $63 Million Glow-Up

The Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine's teaching hospital hasn't changed much since 1987. A newly approved expansion aims to fix that without ever closing its doors.

It's official: the long-discussed expansion and renovation of the Veterinary Teaching Hospital at the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine has construction authorization from the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors. Groundbreaking is set for spring 2027, with completion targeted for spring 2029.

“I think the biggest thing is that people are seeing it as a reality,” says hospital director Tanya LeRoith, who has watched the project inch toward this point for years. “There's really no turning back now.”

The current building has changed little since it opened in 1987, and the college has outgrown it. The $63 million project will renovate and expand roughly 52,000 gross square feet to catch the hospital up to growing demand for advanced care, rising enrollment, and expanded specialty services.

The expansion adds capacity across internal medicine, cardiology, theriogenology, community practice, and emergency services, while modernizing clinical, instructional, and support spaces throughout the building, including student learning rounds areas, faculty and staff workspace, and the case flow through the hospital's busiest departments. Veterinary education has leaned harder into specialty training in recent years, and the new space is built with that shift in mind, giving both specialists and the students training under them more room to work.

Dean M. Daniel Givens frames the project as a three-way win. “It's going to improve the education of tomorrow's veterinarians,” he says, pointing also to better care for the dogs and cats treated in Blacksburg and a stronger research pipeline from the hospital's clinical trials, one that eventually feeds back into both animal and human medicine.

On the client-facing side, the hospital will get a more visible new entrance, better natural lighting inside, and added wellness and walking space for staff, clients, and pets. And despite two years of construction happening around it, the hospital itself isn't going anywhere.

“At no time will we be closing the hospital down,” Givens says, comparing it to a human hospital operating through its own renovation. The project is being built in phases specifically so the hospital can keep running at full capacity throughout.

That doesn't mean disruption-free, though. LeRoith says the team is now deep in the logistics of keeping the hospital open and running smoothly once construction starts, especially around traffic flow and client parking and entry. An early plan routes clients through a temporary entrance in what's currently the commons area, splitting that space into a smaller waiting room and a continued gathering spot for students, faculty, and staff. Don't expect to see any of it in person before the winter holiday break, though; that's roughly when visible changes are expected to start.

Roanoke-based Branch Builds is managing construction, working alongside national architecture firm Stantec, and both have committed to limiting noise and dust during the build.

Part of that $63 million still needs to be raised. The project carries a $13 million philanthropic component, and the college is still looking for contributors, including opportunities to sponsor specific spaces inside the new hospital.

“This is a huge project,” Givens says. “We want to thank all of those that are helping this project become a reality, and we want to thank those who are currently considering helping with this project to improve the lives of dogs and cats and people here in Southwest Virginia and the entire region.”

Source: Virginia Tech and the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine. Renderings courtesy of Stantec Architecture Firm.