Belmont Behavioral's new psych hospital rises in West Philly

Belmont Behavioral Health on Thursday plans to break ground on a $110 million replacement hospital on its campus at the intersection of Monument and West Ford Roads in West Philadelphia, Mark Schor, Belmont's chief executive, said Tuesday.

The new six-story structure with 250 beds will replace a run-down three-story facility with 180 beds that Acadia Healthcare Co. Inc., of Franklin, Tenn., bought from Einstein Health Network in 2015 in a $30 million deal, not including working capital.

It has been many years since a new psychiatric hospital has been built in Philadelphia. Schor said. Such facilities are no longer built to feel like institutions, and that will show in the hospital Belmont is building, he said.

"Certainly the city of Philadelphia really wants a much more recovery-oriented, a much less institutional feel for care," Schor said. "We're trying to build it so it feels warm, so it feels like a respectful place to be cared for, not an institution with padded walls."

Acadia previously spent $15 million on a new Belmont outpatient building, which opened in October, and $5 million on a 14,000 square feet Crisis Response Center in East Falls in partnership with Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and under contract with the city. That facility opened this month.

In addition, the company spent $5 million to add a 24-bed children's unit to the hospital that is going to be torn down and replaced, Schor said.