The region’s only public methadone clinic plans to move into the medical complex at One Elizabeth Place in February.

Project Cure’s current location, an obsolete building at 1800 N. James H. McGee Blvd., bulges with desks, file cabinets, medical supplies, staff and clients. On Tuesday, more than 700 clients made a trip to the clinic for a daily dose of methadone, said Virgil McDaniel, deputy director of the clinic.

Methadone works by suppressing the intense cravings of narcotic withdrawal for up to 36 hours. It also blocks the high if heroin is used.

Project Cure will move into the ground floor of Elizabeth Place’s Northwest Building. Renovations are underway. The search for a new facility has taken nearly four years. McDaniel would not divulge details of the lease.

“The building is more easily accessible, whether you come from the north, south, east or west,” McDaniel said. “I think the general public is almost to the point of realizing people need treatment, they just don’t want (a treatment facility) in their neighborhood.”

Three Greater Dayton Regional Transit Authority Bus routes have stops near or on the complex grounds, an important factor in choosing the location, McDaniel said. The new facility also has adequate parking, which the current facility lacks.

McDaniel believes the updated and more spacious facility will be a boost to patients.

“By the time people get to us, most of them have lost their families, everything. The nice, clean environment that Elizabeth Place provides is going to lift their morale,” he said.

At its current location, Project Cure is isolated from other medical providers. At Elizabeth Place, it will be one among many, including Samaritan’s CrisisCare, an entry point for addiction services in Montgomery County.

“They’re able to have conversations (and) open communication with other service providers that they never had before,” said Andrea Hoff, director of Community Engagement and Special Initiates for the Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services Board (ADAMHS) of Montgomery County.

McDaniel said Project Cure is working with the ADAMHS board to reduce barriers to recovery. Currently, 35 to 50 percent of the individuals scheduled to start services don’t show up for treatment.

“Some people don’t make it through the maze,” McDaniel said.

The clinic plans to end residential treatment after Dec. 31, which generally served 15 to 20 recovering addicts. Administrators of Project Cure are in discussions with Nova Behavioral Health Inc. at 732 Beckman Street to provide that service, but no deal has been reached, McDaniel said.

If that does happen, Project Cure would still provide the medicine for those patients.