The University of New Mexico Hospital has plans for a medical center in Rio Rancho and to help get the UNM Sandoval Regional Medical Center up and running, UNMH is looking to the federal government for $143.4 million.

UNM is hoping to contribute up to $46 million toward the Rio Rancho project.

The organization initially planned for Legacy, a for-profit corporation based in Plano, Texas, to invest nearly $150 million in the project. But, SRMC Interim President Kim Hedrick said Legacy decided not to invest, so UNMH is in the process of applying for a Housing and Urban Development Federal Housing Administration Insured Mortgage Loan. “Legacy was reluctant because of the current economic conditions and reluctant to invest in a green field, meaning there’s no building yet,” Hedrick said. “They made us aware of that in early-to-mid 2009, so we began working on the HUD financing plan immediately.”

The door is still open for Legacy to invest in the hospital.

“Legacy had two or three other hospitals they were working with and were busy,” Hedrick said. “We still talk to them, periodically, and I think they would still like to come in with us sometime in the future.”

Hedrick said the hospital still plans to open toward the end of 2011 or the beginning of 2012, with a groundbreaking slated for July of 2010.

Operating a hospital isn’t cheap. Hedrick said it costs roughly $1 to 2 million a bed to construct it. SRMC will have 68 beds, eight of which will be for mental health patients. Hedrick explained that it will primarily be a teaching and surgical hospital.

Hedrick explained that the UNM Dean of the School of Medicine Paul Roth feels very strongly that they need to move forward with the SRMC.

“It meets our teaching mission. We have no space to accommodate a lot of our clinical residents and ancillary nursing students,” she said. “Another reason is we are out of beds at UNM Hospital downtown. They are frequently out of beds and our operating room space is limited. We absolutely need another hospital.”

As for the funding from HUD, Hedrick is confident that UNMH will receive it.

“The meeting with HUD went extremely well,” she said. “We have a very strong track record with HUD.”

Hedrick said HUD screens projects and only allows worthy projects to apply for the funding. She said the hospital will know if funding is received by May 17, 2010.

HUD has assigned a project manager to work with UNMH on the application.

As for the construction of the hospital, Hedrick said they are fairly far along with the architectural process and will choose a contractor by the end of the month. The three finalists are Bradberry Stamm Construction, teaming with Hunt Companies; McCarthy; and Kitchell.

Rohde May Keller McNamara Architecture, of Albuquerque, and WHR, of Houston, are doing the architectural designs for the project.

Hedrick said she encourages people to become a part of the hospital.

“I’d really like for the community to get involved,” she said. “I want to see volunteers and kids going to work for the hospital. We can have people helping us build a community garden and support patients from a food perspective. I’d love to see a lot of people get involved in this hospital.”

To get involved, e-mail Hedrick at Khedrick@unmmg.org.