The Butler Health System today closed on $126 million in funding for the expansion of Butler Memorial Hospital and its outpatient system.

Of that amount, $76 million is in fixed-rate bonds, and $50 million is in variable-rate bonds, according to John Righetti, health system spokesman, in a news release.

Most of the money is going to pay for the seven-story surgical tower addition on Butler Memorial's campus on East Butler Street in Butler.

The tower includes a new front entrance, an atrium, meeting rooms and classrooms, intensive care unit, operating rooms and private patient rooms.

Ken DeFurio, system president and chief executive officer, said in a news release that the $152 million total project also includes updates to the system's information technology.

The project began in early 2008 with the expansion and reorganization of the hospital's emergency department. The surgical tower's steel structure is about half complete and now is taller than the current hospital's main building.

DeFurio has said the project is "still on time and on budget," with the tower to open in mid 2010.