LRGHealthcare is set to begin a three-site project thanks to a federal program that has helped it secure low-interest loans for nearly $140 million.

The construction will include a planned expansion of Lakes Region General Hospital in Laconia, a renovation of the emergency department at Franklin General Hospital and a new physician office building in Meredith.

The new bonds, which will be offered later this month, will be guaranteed by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development as part of a program to encourage hospital improvements. The loan guarantee has allowed the organization to pay for the three projects and refinance about $90 million of existing debt.

"This financing enables us to take a huge step forward in furthering our ability to meet our community's current and future healthcare needs," CEO Tom Clairmont said in a statement.

According to hospital CFO Henry Lipman, the plan will save the hospitals more than $27 million over the life of the loan. The Laconia project had already been announced by the hospital and approved by the state's Certificate of Need board, but executives put the project on hold as turmoil in the economy made it difficult to get reasonable loans.

The plan has not changed much and will connect the hospital's main building with its physician office building through a 97,000-square-foot addition, expanding its elder care and intensive care units and allowing the hospital to transition nearly all of its rooms from semi-private to private.

The Franklin project will nearly double the hospital's emergency department by adding 3,200 square feet of space, but it will not increase the overall size of the hospital.

In Meredith, LRGHealthcare will replace the aging Belknap Family Health building with a newer, larger space, adding room for new providers, services such as radiology and physical therapy, and a laboratory.

The planning for all three sites is complete, and contracts have already been put out to bid. Hospital officials said the Laconia construction is likely to begin next week. Building at all three sites will start within the next month.