Paulding WellStar Hospital president Mark Haney said construction of the new replacement hospital is on schedule.

“Currently, we are doing the site work,” Haney said. “We are grading the dirt, pouring foundations and we have dug the geothermal wells.”

The 265,000-square-foot hospital will be WellStar’s first facility built from the ground up. The company broke ground for it in April at U.S. Highway 278 and Bill Carruth Parkway in Hiram.

The hospital will eventually have 112 licensed beds, but when it first opens will operate with only 56.

In comparison, WellStar Douglas has 100 beds; WellStar Cobb has 300 and WellStar Kennestone 600.

The site, at the corner of Highway 278 and Bill Carruth Parkway is 33 acres.

There are 250 wells that are 700 feet deep that will heat and cool the hospital, acting like a compressor, or cooling towers, according to Haney. Haney said the wells will save a great amount of energy, and that Paulding WellStar is the first hospital in Georgia to use this technique for heating and cooling.

Haney said a nine-story tower crane would go up in the next month or so. The hospital building will be eight stories.

“We’ve had really good weather that has really helped us in this stage of the game,” he said. “It has allowed us to stay on schedule and on budget by not missing any days.”

The hospital is expected to open for operations in April 2014, according to Haney.

He said a nursing center and long-term care facility at the site of the current hospital will expand into the old hospital in west Dallas when the new hospital is completed.

In other hospital news, Paulding County Commissioners approved the issuance of revenue anticipation certificates, or bonds, by the Paulding County Hospital Authority.

The authority held a public hearing June 7 on the issuance of the bonds, which totaled $106.25 million, for a loan to WellStar for construction.

Haney said the authority issued the first $31 million worth of bonds June 12.

Haney said the balance will be issued June 28.