New Hospital Sees Rain Delays, Still Under Budget

The new Olney Hamilton Hospital is rising about a week later than expected due to rain delays, water line complications, and title issues that have slowed progress in recent weeks, project manager Dave Lilley of Skiles Group told the hospital’s board of directors at their August meeting.

Mr. Lilley reported that the hospital project is still tracking toward substantial completion in September 2026, with costs holding steady at just under $26 million. He credited value engineering and careful oversight by Skiles’ management team for keeping the project within budget. The OHH board has budgeted a total of $33 million to complete the project.

“Bid day is just the start of the conversation,” Lilley said. “We’ve worked hard to identify true savings versus apparent ones and make sure the project stays at the $26 million construction cost target that was originally set.”

The hospital is also in the final stages of closing on new market tax credits, a key piece of financing that will reduce the hospital’s overall borrowing costs. Board Chairman Dale Lovett said the process had been complicated by a “knot made of other knots” involving the deed to the old hospital property on Hamilton Street. Local leaders, engineers, and attorneys have been working together to clear the title issues so the financing can be finalized.

To make way for the steel erection and crane operation, Hamilton Street in front of the hospital will be closed from August through early November. Mr. Lilley explained that construction crews needed the extra space to operate safely and avoid entanglement with overhead utilities.

“OSHA and best practices both said no to trying to set up on the existing footprint,” Mr. Lilley said. “We needed room to move safely, and closing the street was the only practical way to do it.”

Recent heavy rains have slowed the pace of work, leaving only about half of the foundation slab poured when the project team had hoped to finish the entire slab by now. Still, Mr. Lilley said the project is only five to seven days behind schedule, and efforts are underway to make up time.

“Rain is always built into the schedule, but when you get more than the monthly average, it eats away at your cushion,” he said.