New psychiatry hospital to bring 90 jobs to area

35-bed inpatient geriatric facility will be located at Elizabeth Place.

DAYTON — The opening of an inpatient geriatric psychiatric hospital as early as May will bring 90 jobs to Elizabeth Place, providing a much-needed boost to Dayton’s largest office complex and reinforcement for the region’s depleted mental health services.

Nashville, Tenn.-based Haven Psychiatric Rehabilitation Programs plans to staff 35 beds in a 22,000-square-foot facility at Elizabeth Place.

The space it will occupy has been vacant since Franciscan Medical Center (formerly St. Elizabeth) closed in 2000. The lease follows 21 months of talks.

“With Greene Memorial just closing their (inpatient psych) beds, I think it’s something that will really benefit Dayton and the geriatric population,” said Patsy Boatright, Elizabeth Place’s property and leasing manager.

The hospital’s opening also will help restore about 75 percent of the revenue that Elizabeth Place will lose when Kindred Hospital relocates this spring to the former Dayton Heart Hospital nearby. After the hospital opens, about 73 percent of the complex’s more than 90,000 square feet of rentable space will be leased.

“I think it just builds more confidence for the campus,” Boatright said.

Elizabeth Place’s owner, Delamore Elizabeth Place LP, is more than two years into an ongoing bankruptcy reorganization, but Boatright said Delamore should emerge from bankruptcy protection this summer. Delamore is in negotiations to lease another 15,000 square feet of space.

Haven didn’t return a call seeking comment on Friday.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-7457 or bsutherly@DaytonDailyNews.com.