Forest Park Medical Center, a new hospital that will be located on the south side of SH 45 N between MoPac and I-35, has pushed back its opening date to April 2015 from its intended opening in December.

FPMC CEO John O'Neill said the delay was due in part to permitting issues. FPMC leaders held a ceremonial groundbreaking last August. Construction started in January.

The location will be FPMC's first in Austin. The hospital group has three locations in the Dallas area. FPMC facilities in Forth Worth and San Antonio will open in September, O'Neill said.

O'Neill said the new facility will set a new standard of quality for the area's hospitals. He said comparing it to other hospitals will be like comparing budget and high-end hotels.

"There's the Motel 6 and then there's the Ritz-Carlton. They both have a bed and both have rooms," O'Neill said. "The difference is service and quality."

When complete, the Austin hospital will have 46 private in patient rooms, six intensive care rooms, 10 operating rooms, an emergency room and a pharmacy among other features. O'Neill said the facility will specialize in non-emergency surgeries such as joint replacements. The new facility will not have a trauma center.

The $90 million facility was financed in part by the doctors who will use the space. FPMC has 90 doctors on board as investors for the project, O'Neill said. The construction has been paid for with a combination of investments from the doctors and loans. The doctors have a 70 percent ownership stake in the facility, O'Neill said.

The doctors—which include general practitioners, neuro-surgeons, gynecologists and other specialists—will use space in the new facility on a part-time basis. Their primary offices will not move, O'Neill said. Most will use the FPMC as a secondary location or as a place to perform complicated surgeries and procedures. FPMC anticipates 150 doctors—including its 90 investors—will use the facility when it is complete.

The facility will soon begin recruiting for its senior-level staffing positions, FPMC spokeswoman Kandace Cortez said. Among the first positions to be filled will be the hospitals chief operating officer, chief financial officer and chief nursing officer. The hospital will have roughly 175 employees when it opens, according to a news release.