After sitting mostly dark for years on the edge of MacArthur Park, the long-shuttered St. Vincent Medical Center in Westlake is set to reopen next month as a behavioral health and housing campus, developers say. The first phase is expected to open in June as a 205-bed interim housing program for people living with serious mental illness and substance use disorders. The revamped site is designed so that someone can walk in for crisis care and, in theory, move through addiction treatment, housing and outpatient services without ever leaving the campus.
St. Vincent Behavioral Health Campus LLC bought the 7.7-acre property at the end of last year for $66.5 million, according to Los Angeles Times. The facility has been largely shuttered since 2020 after financial troubles and a bankruptcy by its prior owner. The sale turned the historic hospital over to a private partnership that says its goal is to convert the complex into a centralized hub for social services.
Funding and partners
The project has drawn serious money as it races toward opening. In March, Gov. Gavin Newsom's Proposition 1 award package included $135.8 million dedicated to the St. Vincent campus, according to a press release highlighted by Sen. María Elena Durazo. In April, Health Net and the Centene Foundation announced a $6 million investment to support crisis care, transitional services and housing at the site, according to a Health Net release carried by PR Newswire.
How the campus will work
Developers describe the project as a "continuum of care" that tries to put as many rungs of the behavioral health ladder as possible in one place. Plans call for inpatient and outpatient behavioral health services, a chemical-dependency recovery hospital, recuperative care and workforce training, according to St. Vincent Behavioral Health Campus. The full redevelopment is expected to cost about $300 million and ultimately provide more than 800 beds across interim and permanent supportive units, as reported by Los Angeles Times.
Partners on site
The campus is lining up a roster of local providers to run programs on the grounds. The project website lists partners including Cri-Help, DePaul USA Los Angeles, Didi Hirsch, Exodus Recovery, Horizon Recuperative Care and The People Concern, and states that "St. Vincent Behavioral Health Campus is bridging the gaps in behavioral health, recovery and housing stability," according to St. Vincent Behavioral Health Campus. Operators say having services under one roof should shorten the route from street outreach to treatment and more stable housing.
Neighbors and advocates
Community organizers and service providers have largely welcomed the scale of the plan while urging strong oversight as it ramps up. Victor Narro, project director at the UCLA Labor Center, told LAist the building could help chronically ill unhoused people with severe mental health issues and deep addiction, calling the reopening "long overdue." LAist also reports the first phase will operate out of Seaton Hall on South Lake Street and is slated to open in June with 205 interim beds.
Timeline and what to expect
Developers say additional phases will roll out through 2027, with the aim of having the full campus up and running before the 2028 Summer Olympics. City officials, advocates and service providers say they will be watching closely to see whether this centralized model can meaningfully cut the number of people living on nearby streets and speed up connections to treatment and housing.
