Central State Hospital Local Redevelopment Authority officials Mike Couch, Quay Fuller and Dr. Joy Nelson listen to Joe Wright’s presentation about the new Bostick Nursing Center during last week’s monthly meeting. 

MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga. — The new Bostick Nursing Center on the campus of Central State Hospital in Milledgeville is nearing completion.

It is expected to offer 330 jobs and boost the local economy, significantly, according to local officials.

Once its doors open, it will become the new home for many sick and older parolees. Plans call for 280 medically fragile parolees and some severely mentally ill clients who have been living in the nearby James B. Craig Center to be housed in the Bostick Nursing Center.

For the past several months, Joe Wright has kept members of the Central State Hospital Local Redevelopment Authority (CSHLRA) abreast of different aspects of the project from a construction aspect.

During last week’s CSHLRA monthly meeting, Wright brought board members up to speed concerning the project.

“Most of the work on this project is now taking place on the inside,” Wright said. “So, if you’ve seen one patient room, you’ve seen them all. And if you’ve seen one shower, you’ve seen all the showers.”

On a more serious note, Wright said some rather significant milestones had been reached.

“We’ve got the air conditioners running, so they are conditioning the air, which they had to do to take the moisture out of the concrete in order to put the floors down,” Wright said. “The floors are all down in all the patient rooms in Wings 8 and will be in 7.”

Wright said the architect is due to be onsite Aug. 29 and 30 to complete his final inspection on Wings 800, 700 and hopefully, 600. Wright noted that some gutter and downspout work, as well as a little “fine tuning” on the site still needs to be completed.

Wright said Garbutt Construction is pushing its subcontractors to be completely finished by the end of September.

The Bostick Nursing Center will consist of a 280-bed geriatric care facility. It is a private development project, and will primarily serve special populations with limited access to skilled nursing and intermediate care services.

The new medical facility, which will be managed and operated by CorrectHealth, LLP, an Atlanta-based medical care company owned by Dr. Carlo Musso, is located on land that used to serve as Bostick State Prison on the Central State Hospital campus.

It sits on a 16-acre site and is valued at $20 million.

The physician-owned company, which specializes in correctional health care, is in partnership with the CSHLRA.

As a side note to Wright’s report about the construction of the building up to this point, Mike Couch, executive director the CSHLRA, said Dr. Musso recently called him and asked him if he could show the facility off to some of the members of the Georgia Pardons and Paroles Board.

“We had the chairman of the board,” Couch said, and others there. “It’s come a long way. It’s a beautiful building; absolutely gorgeous.”

Couch he was proud that the project is going to create new jobs.

“Those are jobs that many people in this community and surrounding areas need in order to make a living,” Couch told The Union-Recorder shortly after construction began on the new nursing facility. “That’s something I’m very proud about and I think each of the members of the board are, too.”