The re-opening of Grand Prairie's only hospital hit another snag when its owners filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last week.

Renaissance Hospital's filing comes just four months after Atlantic Health Group acquired a majority stake in the troubled Renaissance Healthcare Systems. Renaissance operates facilities in Dallas, Houston and Groves, near Port Arthur. It also leases the Terrell hospital from the city. The company now plans to sell its assets in Terrell.

The Grand Prairie hospital has been vacant since 2000, when Dallas/Fort Worth Medical Center closed its doors. Renaissance took control of the hospital in 2006 and vowed to open a state-of-the-art facility. That project is 80 percent complete.

Redevelopment plans put too much strain on the company's financials, the filing notes.

"The combination of cost overruns, collapse of the capital markets and gross underestimation of costs drained Renaissance Healthcare System's resources," the filing stated.

When Atlantic, now called RHS Acquisitions, acquired a controlling interest in Renaissance in April, it cut operating costs by $2 million per month, reformed its billing and collection systems and attempted to correct operational problems.

"Unfortunately, the financial improvements obtained by RHSA did not occur quickly enough to complete the turnaround outside of bankruptcy," the filing continued.

Atlantic CEO Jerome Mee did not return calls for comment.

When the spring sale was announced, Mr. Mee said he was hopeful his company could turn Renaissance around. At the time, it owed $6.5 million in liens to subcontractors.

"It's fixable; it just doesn't happen overnight," he said.

In Terrell, according to the filing, the company owed more than $337,000 in delinquent property taxes to Kaufman County and was past due $8,000 in its water utility bill to the city. Salaries weren't paid to staff. The hospital also couldn't meet basic health regulations. Perishable items were ruined because the faulty walk-in cooler wasn't repaired and maintained properly.

Despite its debts, the hospital is still operating and should continue to do so until the bankruptcy court rules, Terrell Mayor Hal Richards said.

Mr. Richards said that as of Tuesday, patients are still being admitted to the emergency room. Serious cases are transferred to other hospitals.

"We're waiting on direction from the bankruptcy court," Mr. Richards said. "We're hoping that this will work out to be a good pause for all the parties involved and let the corporation get their act together."