Even a parade of politicians apparently isnt enough to get construction moving on a major new health care center in Tacomas Hilltop neighborhood.

Its been four months since dignitaries and officeholders including U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell and U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks gathered under a rain-soaked tent to break ground for Community Health Cares Hilltop Regional Health Care Center.

But the site for the $26-million, three-story medical building at 1202 Martin Luther King Jr. Way remains a weed-choked lot with neither an excavator nor a bulldozer in sight.

Blame the complications of the exotic financing that Community Health Care is using to get the job done, said Community Health President David Flentge.

We have finished the architect selection and weve named a contractor, but weve still got some work to do on the details of the financing, Flentge said this week.

The health care provider is using a combination of state and federal grants, private and foundation funding and tax credits to raise the funds needed to build the center.

The tax credits are the most complex instruments used to gather the funds. And final issues concerning those credits are still being finished, said Flentge.

Federal law allows health care facilities in certain low-income areas such as Hilltop to sell tax credits, which corporations can use to reduce their income taxes. In return, the health care facilities receive money from those banks or corporations.

Flentge said the health care concerns revised schedule calls for a construction start on Sept. 18 with building completion next summer.

The original schedule had projected completion next spring.

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Hilltop health care center delayed over funds