UCLA Health’s transformation of a former community medical center into a world-class neuropsychiatric hospital in the Mid-Wilshire neighborhood of Los Angeles is entering the construction phase with completion on track for 2026.
A time-lapsed video from the project site shows progress between May 1 and Dec. 29, 2023. (Video courtesy of the design-build construction team led by McCarthy Building Companies Inc. and architectural firm HOK.)
Demolition and site work began in March 2023, including removal of a portion of the old structure. It will be replaced with a new connecting building that adds elevators and transforms interior circulation. The exterior envelope has also been removed and will be replaced with a new façade and high-performance glazing to support energy efficiency and acoustic benefits for patient rooms.
Utility work has begun to support what will be an all-electric hospital. Grading and clearing is underway to create an off-street loading dock and new landscaping and garden areas.
Still to come is construction that will upgrade all building systems, infrastructure and interiors. This will be followed by installation of medical equipment, an all-electric commercial kitchen, furnishings, IT devices, and various other steps prior to state licensure.
When completed, the new hospital will have 119 inpatient acute care psychiatric beds, including 36 designed for child and adolescent patients. That is 45 (61%) more than the 74 beds in Stewart and Lynda Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital at UCLA, which will relocate to the Mid-Wilshire site about six miles east of Westwood.
Demand for inpatient psychiatric beds in Los Angeles County has long exceeded capacity, and the need for more is urgent. The new hospital also will have a dedicated care area for crisis stabilization services, an asset not available in Westwood.
Plans call for a modern, integrated behavioral health campus with a full range of inpatient and outpatient services.
Along with the former community medical center, UCLA Health acquired a parking structure and medical office building. These buildings are part of separate but concurrent projects to seismically upgrade, improve infrastructure and build out new clinic spaces for the licensed behavioral health outpatient and partial hospital (day) programs that will relocate from Westwood.
The vacated neuropsychiatric hospital space on the Westwood campus will be renovated to expand capacity for UCLA Health to provide specialized medical and surgical care to pediatric and adult patients. Detailed plans are in development.
