BUTLER TWP — A more than yearlong process to select a site for a new U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs health care center is over, and the facility will be built in a different location than originally planned.

The VA on Wednesday awarded a lease contract for a 168,000-square-foot health care center to Cambridge Healthcare Solutions PA, LP of Vienna, Va.

The center will be a two-story building on North Duffy Road about 1.4 miles away from the Butler Township campus on New Castle Road, announced VA Butler Healthcare on Friday.

The new site is in Center Township on the Butler Township line.

The center will expand VA Butler Healthcare’s outpatient services to meet increasing demand and will include primary care, specialty care, dental, lab, pathology, radiology, mental health, and ancillary and diagnostic services.

“This is a milestone that renews VA’s commitment to providing high quality medical services to our veterans and preserves our presence in the Butler community,” said John Gennaro, VA Butler Healthcare director, in a news release.

VA Butler did not return messages for further comment.

VA Butler will occupy the center for 20 years. Cambridge will be paid $8.4 million in annual rent after an initial rent abatement period. The length of the abatement was not specified.

Construction completion is anticipated to be 31 months from the awarding of the contract.

During the design and construction of the new center, veterans will continue to receive services either at the main facility or one of the community based outpatient clinics.

The new facility will replace many of the services offered at the New Castle Road campus, but those facilities will continue to be used following the completion of the new center.

The site in Center Township was one of four considered for the new center after original plans to build at the Deshon Woods site on Route 68 in Butler Township fell through.

The VA in August 2013 canceled its $75 million agreement with Westar Development, accusing the developer of making false and misleading representations during the lease process.

Westar had cut down trees and started to develop the land that was to become home to a three-story, 168,000 square-foot building.

When the VA put the project back out to consideration, the Deshon Woods lot, the North Duffy Road property and two other locations were listed as contenders for the contract.

The other two locations were property along Lions Road in Butler Township and the Mount Chestnut Golf Course at the intersection of North Road and Route 422 in Franklin Township.

Officials in Center Township said Friday they were unaware of the awarded contract, adding they had not heard from the VA or Cambridge since late 2013.

“There hasn’t been any correspondence,” said township Supervisor Ken Frenchak on Friday. “As of this morning we’ve been talking about the new Sheetz development and other things going on, but the VA hasn’t even been mentioned.”

Supervisor Chairman Ed Latuska said news of the VA deal is surprising.

“That was an issue that has been on the back burner for a while now,” he said.

While the contract caught officials off guard, it is good news for the township.

“This is big,” Frenchak said. “A lot of good would come from that. It would add jobs and bring an influx of development in the township.”

He is hopeful for a “spur” of both commercial and residential development around the new VA center.

“It’s good for the community as a whole,” he said.

Township Secretary Anthony Amendolea said Cambridge last met with the township in 2013.

At that time the developer planned to develop 45 acres owned by Dale Herold on North Duffy Road, Amendolea said.

The land is part of about 145 acres of farmland Herold owns just north of the Butler/Center township line, Amendolea said.

He added the township expected to hear the VA’s selection months ago.

“They were supposed to decide in the spring (of 2014),” he said.

Butler Township manager Ed Kirkwood said he wanted to independently verify the information on the new agreement before making any statements.

“It’s a decision that is made by the VA. Am I disappointed? Absolutely. But it is what it is,” Kirkwood said.

Butler Township commissioners Chairman Joseph Hasychak said there are a number of reasons to be disappointed with the news.

“This will hurt us,” Hasychak said.

He said there is a void at the 15.9 acre Deshon Woods property, which was bought in 2013 from the township for $2.4 million by the then-developer Westar, also known as VA Butler Partners.

“It will go back on the tax rolls but there has to be something there to tax. Right now it’s just empty,” Hasychak said.

“It was a park. Now all those trees are gone ... The VA, if they’d done their due diligence at the beginning, this never would have happened.”

Hasychak said he’s also surprised by the final location that was picked.

“How is Duffy Road going to handle that traffic?” he asked. “And there’s no infrastructure out there, no sewage or utilities. So maybe they did their due diligences the same way they did it last time.”

Officials with Cambridge nor Dale Herold could not be reached for comment.

Cambridge is a real estate firm founded in 1983, according to its website.

The company is building a $150 million VA health care facility in Charlotte, N.C., scheduled to open in 2016. A groundbreaking was held for that project in April.

Eagle staff writers Will DeShong and Kim Paskorz contributed to this report.