Bridge Loan Bolsters Funding for New Orleans Hospital

NEW ORLEANS – Construction on the new $69 million St. Bernard Parish Hospital and Medical Center will begin after the St. Bernard Parish Council helped work out bridging loan rates and acquire a $41 million bridge loan in case federal funding was delayed. 

 

The St. Bernard Parish Hospital Service District signed a $33.1 million contract with Citadel Builders, based in Metairie, to begin construction on the long-awaited public hospital in Chalmette. The original St. Bernard Parish’s hospital was destroyed during hurricane Katrina as well as the privately-owned Chalmette Medical Center, leaving the parish without an emergency room or full service hospital.

 

A medical office building will be bid in January or February and is expected to take nine months to complete, said Councilman Wayne Landry, in a recent report.

 

The funding hurdle was addressed at a special council meeting. The hospital’s construction budget counted on about $10 million from a federal tax credit program that requires the Parish to show it has about $41 million in place, Landry said.

 

While the parish anticipates $41 million in federal Community Development Block Grant money, Landry said that the state might not be able to release the funds for another seven or eight months.

 

“This money is necessary to close the transaction,” Landry said.