Work on the Brunswick Novant Medical Center is proceeding on schedule and the new hospital is on track to open in the summer of 2011, Novant Health spokeswoman Amy Myers said.

The new facility three miles north of Brunswick Community Hospital on U.S. 17 will have 74 acute care beds, compared to 60 in the current facility operated by Novant Health.

The new four-story hospital will be much larger. Brunswick Community Hospital is 75,000 square feet, while Brunswick Novant Medical Center will encompass 250,000 square feet.

“We hope (work) will continue to be on schedule for a summer 2011 opening. The only thing that could stand in the way is weather,” Myers said. “We’re just a little less than a year away and we are getting very excited.”

The economy will not impact the project. The hospital’s price tag remains at $107 million, Myers said.

Passers-by will notice the exterior of the building is almost complete. Myers said work currently going on inside includes hanging drywall and the application of primer paint.

The new hospital will also feature private rooms.

“We are excited we will be transitioning from mostly semi-private rooms to all private rooms in the new facility,” Myers said.

Although the project is far from complete, Myers said Brunswick Community Hospital is already receiving inquiries from job seekers about work at the new facility.

While the staff at Brunswick Community Hospital will transfer over to the new facility when it opens, some additional hiring is anticipated, Myers said.

“There will be additional jobs when we open. We get a lot of calls about jobs,” she said.

Brunswick Community Hospital recently laid off 18 employees. The number of new hires will correspond to the patient volume at Brunswick Novant Medical Center, Myers said.

“Primarily our staffing is based on our volume,” she said. Some jobs will be added because of the increase in hospital size. For example, Myers said, more security personnel will be needed.

Other activities connected to the relocation are already taking place.

“We are in the process of contracting with a vendor who will help us with the actual physical move,” Myers said.

The vendor will assist in moving equipment, furniture and patients.

“We will minimize that so we won’t have surgeries on a specific date (before the move),” she said.

Novant Health is beginning the purchase of equipment like beds that will be moved to the new hospital when it opens. Forty beds arrived in late September that will eventually be moved to Brunswick Novant Medical Center, Myers said.