UCLA Health’s new is taking shape in the Mid-Wilshire neighborhood of Los Angeles and is on track to open in late-summer 2026.
The five-story, 119-bed hospital will relocate and expand the 74-bed currently located within Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Westwood, about six miles to the west.
“UCLA Health looks forward to expanding access for mental health care as we open this state-of-the-art, comprehensive neuropsychiatric hospital and campus in the next year,” said Johnese Spisso, president of UCLA Health and CEO of the UCLA Hospital System. “It is a monumental investment in our commitment to the mental health care needs in Los Angeles.”
With structural framing and installation of completed last winter, the building envelope is nearing completion with the recent installation of windows. (The envelope is the primary boundary between indoors and outdoors and also includes walls, foundations, roofs and doors.)
“We are very focused and carefully executing detailed plans to expand access to world-class behavioral health care for the community,” said UCLA Health Chief Operating Officer Richard Azar.
A crane recently lifted onto the roof the primary mechanical equipment for heating and cooling.
Completion of drywall installation and permanent power in the building are anticipated for late this summer.
Simultaneously, work continues at a rapid pace on essential building systems. This includes the electrical and plumbing distribution systems that will exist above ceilings and inside finished walls – the multitude of ducts, conduits and pipes that provide airflow, water, power and telecommunications. These are among the most complex elements of hospital construction, said Suzanne Kiely, project manager with UCLA Health planning, design and construction.
Meanwhile, progress continues on multiple other project elements, Kiely said, including fabrication of components to be installed in patient rooms based on previous .
In addition, important procurement of medical equipment, furnishings and technology is underway. Long lead times require off-site production and delivery to the project site in late-2025 to be closely coordinated with the overall construction schedule.
The project is on track for substantial completion of construction in spring 2026, followed by final preparation of the completed interior space to ensure it is ready for use, known as a fit-up. Following that is a licensing period and the late-summer 2026 opening.
The new hospital is on the site of the former Olympia Medical Center, which UCLA Health acquired in January 2021 following its closure.
The Mid-Wilshire project increases inpatient psychiatric capacity by more than 60%, while simultaneously providing capacity within Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center to provide specialized medical and surgical care to more pediatric and adult patients.
“Renovating existing health care properties is a far more efficient way to broadly expand access to high-quality health care,” said UCLA Health Chief Strategy Officer Santiago Munoz.
The Mid-Wilshire acquisition also included a medical office building and parking structure. Those are being upgraded as part of a separate project with a slightly different timeline to house new clinic spaces for the licensed behavioral health outpatient programs relocating from Westwood.
Together with the hospital, they will create a comprehensive, integrated behavioral health campus.
