WARREN — Mercy Health-Youngstown and Brentwood, Tenn.-based Lifepoint Health — already partners to build a rehabilitation hospital in the Mahoning Valley — have expanded the relationship with plans to construct a new inpatient behavioral health hospital here, too.

The health care providers announced Wednesday the planned 75,000-square-foot, 72-bed hospital that will be called Mercy Health Behavioral Hospital shortly after news began to circulate that a location on Belmont Avenue in Liberty was secured to build the rehab facility.

The behavioral health facility will provide inpatient services for adults with depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation, substance use disorder and other mental health illnesses.

It will be designed to create a therapeutic environment for patients, featuring open, airy spaces with amenities that include spacious patient rooms, community areas, outside courtyards and state-of-the-art clinical spaces to support the needs of patients and families, according to a press release.

Lifepoint Behavioral Health, a business unit of Lifepoint Health, will manage the day-to-day operatiions of the behavioral health hospital.

“We are excited to grow our partnership with Lifepoint Health through its behavioral health division as we again expand access to high-quality acute specialty care for our patients throughout the Mahoning Valley,” said Dr. John Luellen, market president of Mercy Health-Lorain and Youngstown. “This hospital will broaden Mercy Health’s ability to provide much-needed inpatient behavioral health care and help us further our mission of bringing good help to those in need.”

In May, Mercy Health and Lifepoint Rehabilitation, another business unit of Lifepoint Health, announced a separate joint venture partnership to build Mercy Health Rehabilitation Hospital, a standalone, 60-bed acute inpatient rehabilitation hospital.

On Wednesday, Alan Friedkin, a Realtor with Burgan-Friedkin Commercial Group, confirmed the location of the rehabilitation hospital at 3180 Belmont Ave., Liberty, the site of a former Kmart department store.

Friedkin, who represented the seller, Shanri Holdings Corp. of Canada, said the transfer recorded Wednesday. The sale of the 1.2-acre parcel was for $1.15 million to TST Youngstown IRF LLC, which according to the Ohio Secretary of State’s Office, formed Jan. 10.

Friedkin said he represented the family that operates Shanri Holdings for about 20 years. Talks with the buyer, he said, started about a year ago.

“As the years changed and the property became a little bit more deteriorated, the decision was made to tear it down and hope that we can find a buyer for the land because we always felt we had the best location,” he said. ” (It is) right on route 193, close to all the interstates, close to the hospital, university, a main road into Youngstown.”

He said the facility would occupy about 60,000 square feet.

This hospital will treat patients who suffer from stroke, traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury, complex neurological disorders, orthopedic conditions, multiple trauma, amputation and other injuries or disorders that have impacted a patient’s functional or cognitive skills.

Liberty Zoning Inspector Jim Rodway said township trustees in August approved a zone change for the land, which was split between commercial and industrial, to fully commercial based on the pending hospital.

“The groundwork is all laid,” Rodway said. “My understanding is they have been working on drawings, so I’ll probably see something shortly.”

The behavioral health hospital will also be located somewhere in the Mahoning Valley. Lifepoint did not say where.

Construction for the rehabilitation hospital is expected to begin this spring with an expected opening in the summer of 2024. Construction for the behavioral hospital is expected to begin this summer with an expected opening in late 2024.

“We are pleased to expand our partnership with Mercy Health, a leading health care system, as we look ahead to this behavioral health facility in the Mahoning Valley,” said Russ Bailey, president of Lifepoint Behavioral Health and Lifepoint Rehabilitation. “We know that in opening and operating this behavioral health hospital with Mercy Health we have a partner equally committed to our mission of making communities healthier as we ensure that Youngstown-area residents have better access to high-quality, behavioral health care.”

When it’s completed, Mercy Health Behavioral Hospital will be Lifepoint Behavioral Health’s sixth joint-venture, standalone behavioral health hospital nationally and first in Ohio.

rselak@tribtoday.com