TIFTON — The Tift County Hospital Authority approved a $29.7 million bid for the construction of the new Cook Medical Center at its Sept. 20 meeting.

The approved bid was the lowest and came from from Brasfield & Gorrie, a Birmingham, Ala. based construction company that has worked on everything from aquariums and stadiums to primary schools and hospitals.

The other three bids were $35.5 million from Robbins & Morton, $36.9 million from Jones Construction and $38.4 million from CPPI.

“There was about a $5 million difference [between bids],” said Jimmy Allen, board chairman. “It was not a hard decision.”

“We’re pushing for December, sometime in December for groundbreaking,” said Chris Dorman, president and chief operating officer for Tift Regional Health System.

The bid included an estimate of 65 weeks of construction time.

That 65 weeks, or roughly 15 months. begins once the foundation for the medical center is poured.

The foundation is expected to be poured around March, according to Allen, which would give an expected occupation date of July or August 2019.

The new Cook Medical Center will be a 108,000 square feet facility with 95 nursing home beds and 28 hospital beds, three operating rooms and two procedure rooms.

TRHS administrators praised the efforts of staff in the face of Hurricane Irma.

“This team did a really great job pulling it all together. Many of the folks stayed here, slept here overnight,” said Dorman. “I’m really proud of the work they all did…I was really impressed with the way this team came tougher and supported the organization and all our employees.”