Credit crunch delays new University of Minnesota Medical Center facility

The U.S. credit crunch is forcing the University of Minnesota Medical Center to delay construction of a $200 million building for outpatient care. The Ambulatory Care Center, a joint project by Fairview Health Services and the University of Minnesota Physicians, called for a five-story structure with 300,000 square feet on what now is a surface parking lot on the university campus. In an internal memo, leaders of the organizations blamed "a rapidly weakening economy, restricted access to capital, investment losses and the significant increase in the cost of debt."