University of Iowa Health Care in Iowa City said its children's hospital is expected to open this week after a two-month delay, the Iowa City Press-Citizen reports.
The news came via an enterprisewide email sent over the weekend.
"We are happy to share that on Friday, Feb. 17, we received permission from the state fire marshal to enable our phased move into the new University of Iowa Stead Family Children's Hospital," said the email from three UI Health Care leaders, according to the report. "This means that we are able to set a firm date for the move, which should be next week. We will make the final determination and notify everyone after meeting with our construction management and implementation teams, who are finalizing some last-minute items."
The $360 million children's hospital was not completed by its initial December opening date, partly due to an ongoing contract dispute with Cedar Rapids, Iowa-based contractor Modern Piping, according to the Iowa City Press-Citizen. The Gazette reports the contractor asserts the University of Iowa owes it more than $8 million for work done on the hospital.
The delayed opening was announced at the end of November 2016. The announcement came weeks after the commencement of a naming ceremony featuring members of the Stead family and open houses which allowed tens of thousands of people to tour the facility, according to the Iowa City Press-Citizen.