The opening date for Long Beach Community Hospital has been pushed back several months over financing issues, but operators on Wednesday said they remain committed to reopening the 94-year-old East Long Beach facility.

Located directly on top of a fault line, Community Hospital shuttered this summer over seismic compliance issues, closing the area’s only emergency room.

The hospital was expected to reopen in January under new operator Molina, Wu, Network, but operators in a community meeting on Wednesday said they’re still working out how to finance the $45 million needed for seismic retrofitting. Other issues include navigating state seismic regulations and determining what equipment is needed for the hospital.

The city, which owns the land, is also still negotiating a lease agreement for the facility, but operator John Molina said they’re close to working out a deal.

“We want to emphasize these are speed bumps, we haven’t hit a wall,” Molina told community members Wednesday. (John Molina is a founding partner in Pacific6, the parent company of the Long Beach Post.)

Operators are now projecting a springtime opening date.

Seismic compliance was a sticking point for former operator MemorialCare Health System, which opted to close Community this year after determining that it would be too costly to retrofit the campus to meet seismic standards.

MemorialCare’s decision to suspend its license rather than let it lapse allowed for Molina, Wu to take over.

Fourth District Councilman Daryl Supernaw, who has been working to reopen Community, said the hospital must reopen before its license expires on April 28.

If the hospital is unable to open by that date, operators would face new challenges when applying for a new license, he said.

“We’ve got to get it together by April,” he said.

Molina said the group is exploring financing options. In addition to the cost for seismic retrofitting, operators must determine costs for equipment, supplies and payroll. The hospital would need to be up and running for three months before it can begin taking patients, meaning it won’t generate any funding for the first several months, he said.

“We now appreciate to a great degree the struggles that MemorialCare went through,” Molina said. “This is a much more complicated transaction than we thought, but one big difference is we’re not ready to give up and we won’t give up. We’re ready to solve this problem.”

Community is limited for some services because of its seismic issues. When it reopens, the hospital will offer a smaller emergency room, an acute-care hospital and other services, including possibly mental health programs and a women’s health center.