Charlotte, N.C. — Atrium Health detailed a $340 million, five-year push on Wednesday to grow behavioral healthcare across the Charlotte region, with a renovated University City hospital site near Mallard Creek at the center of the plan.
Eugene A. Woods, chief executive of Advocate Health, which includes Atrium, cast the commitment as a major regional investment and said mental health care should be treated with the same seriousness as other medical specialties.
Instead of erecting a brand-new campus, Atrium will convert an existing University City building. Leaders said that path should let services open in 2028, shaving about a year to a year and a half off a ground-up timetable. The finished hospital is designed for 168 inpatient beds serving children and adults, a net increase of 102 beds for the community.
The package also calls for a behavioral health emergency department, a larger crisis stabilization unit, outpatient therapy and medication programs, and advanced options for adults who have not improved on standard treatments. Inpatient care stays at Atrium Health Behavioral Health Davidson for now, and Atrium Health Behavioral Health Charlotte keeps its outpatient and crisis role.
System data show behavioral health emergency visits climbed 13 percent across the past six years, with teens making up 17 percent of those visits in that period. Pediatric patients accounted for 26 percent of behavioral health emergency visits last year. In 2025 Atrium recorded nearly 2,000 pediatric inpatient stays and nearly 20,000 pediatric outpatient visits.
After opening, the University City hospital is expected to add roughly 35,000 inpatient days a year and more than 19,500 outpatient visits. The broader pledge funds workforce training, street-psychiatry outreach through Wellness Without Walls, and school-based virtual therapy that has reached nearly 250 North Carolina campuses since 2021.
Separate coverage of the announcement pointed to a statewide shortfall of about 1,500 behavioral health beds and average daily in-migration above 150 people in the Charlotte area. Mayor Rob Harrington said too many families still cannot find beds or appointments and linked better access to both prevention and public safety.
State Health and Human Services Secretary Dev Sangvai praised the hospital plan as help against long waits in emergency departments for urgent mental healthcare. Atrium has acted as the region safety-net behavioral health provider for nearly four decades and said the University City site aims to shorten waits and steer people to the right level of care sooner.