BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — High interest rates and uncertainty in the bond market have forced Woman’s Hospital to halt construction of a new $350 million facility in Baton Rouge.
Stan Shelton, senior vice president and project manager, said Woman’s had planned to issue bonds to finance the new hospital and has been monitoring the bond market since November.
Woman’s had projected its borrowing costs at less than 7 percent. In the current economic climate, Woman’s would have had to pay 8.5 percent interest on the bonds.
Shelton said that would have added $5 million to $6 million a year to the project’s cost.
Woman’s began work on the new facility last summer. Construction was to be completed in late 2010, with the facility to open in early 2011.
 
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