FORT WAYNE, Ind. (AP) _ The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has ranked an Indiana building as one its highest-priority construction projects.

The Journal Gazette reports that the proposed VA budget for fiscal year 2019 ranks the construction of a “West Tower” at the Fort Wayne VA Medical Center as No. 8 on its list of 431 strategic capital investments.

The estimated cost of the project is $17.6 million. The budget for fiscal 2019 requests a total of $1.76 million.

Tom Blackburn is the public affairs officer for the VA Northern Indiana Health Care System. He says plans for the 27,000-square-foot, two-story addition to the main patient building, are being drafted.

Construction would likely begin in fiscal 2021 and would be completed two years later.