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The Department of Veterans Affairs officially took ownership of 624 acres of Alameda Point on Monday, which it hopes to transform into a new, one-stop medical and benefits center, a national cemetery and a wildlife preserve.

“We are proud that the new One VA facility will call Alameda home,” Mayor Marie Gilmore said during a public ceremony at the Alameda Theatre & Cineplex that included a color guard, speeches and a video offering the history of the former Naval Air Station and renderings of the planned facilities.

The complex is slated to include 158,000 square feet of medical clinics and office space and an 80-acre columbarium with enough space to hold the cremated remains of up to 300,000 servicemen and women and their family members. The remaining 512 acres will remain undeveloped and will be managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as a California least tern colony and migratory stopover for other birds, with some public recreational access