Acadia to start work on $110M Philadelphia psych hospital this week

Acadia Healthcare is breaking ground Thursday for its new $110 million psychiatric care hospital, which is being built next to the existing Belmont Behavioral Hospital in the Wynnfield section of Philadelphia.

The Philadelphia Business Journal first reported in 2105 on Acadia's long-term plans to build a replacement hospital at the site, as part of a campus revitalization project.

"This will enable us to expand the types of programs and services we provide that are needed in the communities we serve," said Mark Schor, Belmont’s CEO.

Schor said the project has grown in scale and cost since discussions on the project began after Acadia acquired the psychiatric care hospital for $35 million from Einstein Healthcare Network three years ago.

What was originally envisioned as a $50 million project it has expanded into a $110 million hospital that will be six floors, have 250 beds and occupy about 200,000 square feet. The new hospital will feature some private patient rooms. The existing hospital, which will remain open while the new hospital is being built, has largely two- and three-bed rooms.

“We are licensed at 180 beds and we are full all the time and must turn people away,” Schor said in an interview last year. He noted Belmont is involved in discussions with other local health systems about partnerships to offer different types of specialized care, which prompted them to build a larger medical center.

Schor said among those partnerships is its Belmont's 20-year academic partnership with Thomas Jefferson University and its commitment with Children's Hospital of Philadelphia to develop joint programs.

"The direction we really want to go is to continue to build these kind of relationships with prestigious organizations and develop more programs that integrate behavioral health with medical care," he said.

Schor said Acadia’s goal is also to get Belmont to move away from its “institutional” appearance and embrace a more home-like, “hardwood-floors-in-the-living-room” type of atmosphere. The new hospital will also allow for a separate ambulance entrance; a larger admissions area; support services such as sensory rooms with special lighting, music, and objects to aid therapy; improved site lines for staff monitoring patients; and improved safety components for patients and staff.

The campus revitalization project also included the construction of a $15 million outpatient care center. The three-story, 38,000-square-foot center along Monument Road opened in October.

Acadia has hired Nashville, Tenn.-based Johnson Johnson Crabtree Architects to serve as the architect for the new Belmont Behavioral Hospital.

Based in Franklin, Tenn., Acadia operates a network of 576 behavioral health care facilities with 17,300 beds in 39 states, the United Kingdom and Puerto Rico.

Source: Philadelphia Business Journal