General Contractor Fred Kummer, of HBE Corp. in St. Louis, has informed CMH that he will finish the 250-bed project in Ventura and turn it over in August, some 3 years after the promised completion date. After that, training on new state-of-the-art equipment and more approvals could take another four 4 months so the hospital could open at the end of this year, or the beginning of next year.
HBE has built over 1,000 hospitals (as designer-builder) and has been paying a $10,000 daily delay penalty. Original estimates were $200 million, but the final cost will be closer to $280 million.
