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Benton County makes $1.6M promise to buy KGH building for treatment services

Tri-City Herald - 6/26/2022

Jun. 26—KENNEWICK, Wa. — Benton County will buy the former Kennewick General Hospital for $1.6 million to house future mental health or substance use treatment program.

And it won't be the last building aimed at helping people needing those services, the commissioners promised.

While the county had hoped to use the KGH building to house a more comprehensive program, they're looking at the purchase as a stepping stone rather than a setback.

The commissioners unanimously agreed to buy the 193,000-square-foot building in a special meeting Friday.

The county has not finalized the plan for what exactly would be in the building, but it would provide something related to substance use disorder or mental health treatment, officials have said.

They have previously suggested the former hospital could be used for long-term substance use treatment or a mental health center for juveniles.

"At this time, we are discussing which services can be located at the KGH campus, and which services will have to be located elsewhere," the county said in a statement sent out on Friday.

It's still likely to be months before the county can start moving forward with using the building, county officials said.

Commissioner Will McKay was excited about the possibilities represented by the building. He pointed out the county was getting it at a good price — less than $100 per square foot.

"You can't build a building like that for less than $500. I'm excited to start seeing remodeling," he said during the Friday meeting. "I'm ready to get this rock and rolling."

It was a sentiment shared by Commissioner Shon Small, who said if the county tried to build the building it would never come to this magnitude.

Behavioral Health Recovery Center

While mental health or substance abuse treatment will be coming to the KGH building in some form, it won't be the one-stop shop once envisioned for the property.

County officials and police have been talking about a behavioral health recovery center that would provide both types of treatment to anyone needing it.

While commissioners in Benton and Franklin counties had been looking at the former hospital as part of that plan, the owners of the former hospital, LifePoint Health, won't allow the property to be used for adult mental health treatment longer than three days.

LifePoint owns Richland'sLourdes Counseling Center which is authorized to have up to 36 patient beds — a 20-bed psychiatric hospital and 16-bed short-term mental health treatment facility.

The restriction makes it impossible to house that kind of service in the former KGH building.

Commissioner Jerome Delvin said Benton County is committed to finding a home for what they are calling a "no wrong door" facility.

"It is still our goal to have a 'no wrong door' facility for persons experiencing mental health or substance use crisis and we want to assure everyone that no momentum has been lost in the establishment of a recovery center for our community and our region," the county statement said.

The county has $9 million in state and federal money to support the project and make it a reality. In addition, the county committed up to $5 million of the money it received from the American Rescue Plan Act to the project.

This story was originally published June 26, 20225:00 AM.

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