More than a year after construction stopped, the half-finished medical office building that has become an eyesore in front of Fayette Community Hospital may be rescued.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has approved a $3.36 million loan guarantee to purchase and finish the former Apex Medical Center, settling a lawsuit that has tied the building up.

When it is occupied, the 30,400-sq. ft. building is expected to provide 192 jobs.

Construction stopped in mid-1997 when the property became the subject of a lawsuit between the general contractor, the owners of the property and a local bank. Jeffrey Sakas, attorney for All-Cad, said Tuesday that the parties to the suit have reached a settlement that hinges on purchase of the property by All-Cad before Oct. 15.

"We're hoping to beat that," said Sakas. "We're trying to wrap it up."

In the civil suit filed July 29, 1997, Fayetteville contractors All-Cad Enterprises Inc. sought over $1 million in punitive damages plus $500,000 in design and construction costs against the Apex Group and the Highway 54 Fayette Medical Limited Liability Corporation for what All-Cad maintained was "tortious repudiation of the design contract."

Now All-Cad has been approved to receive the federal loan to rescue the project.

Sakas said an agreement to settle the lawsuit was reached last December and was put into court order form in February, then modified early this month. If all goes well, All-Cad will finish construction and lease the office space to doctors that want to locate near the hospital, he added.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture approved the project as part of $131 million in loan guarantees to help start or expand 48 rural businesses in 24 states and create or save approximately 2,290 rural jobs.

USDA spokesman E.J. Stapler said the loan program originally was $74.5 million for fiscal 1998, but extra money was found and the Fayette project was added on. The loan program is for rural areas of high unemployment, but Tammy Bruce in the agency's rural development office said at the time the loan was approved, Fayette's unemployment rate matched that of the state as a whole, and thus the project qualified.

Bruce said All-Cad has received approval to buy the building, which is 50 percent complete, using a federally guaranteed loan from Fairburn Banking Company.