Chattanooga mayor proposes moving psychiatric hospital

Jan. 31—NASHVILLE — The state's plan to replace the 61-year-old Moccasin Bend Mental Health Institute in Chattanooga with a new facility on the history-rich site has sparked the interest of Chattanooga Mayor Tim Kelly.

Kelly and local legislators are considering a different plan, to relocate the facility elsewhere and integrate the 107-acre psychiatric hospital property into the 956-acre Moccasin Bend National Archeological District.

Gov. Bill Lee'sFiscal Stimulus Accountability Group, which has developed plans for how it will spend an estimated $3.91 billion in federal American Rescue Plan Act stimulus aid flowing to Tennessee, has set aside $265 million to replace the hospital that serves 52 counties in East Tennessee. That came with an asterisk, with local lawmakers and officials wanting to explore moving operations elsewhere.

Kelly already has made a formal pitch to Lee to relocate the hospital's operations elsewhere in the city. In a Jan. 5 letter to Lee, Kelly offered to "facilitate the construction of a new state-of-the-art facility" at another local site. The city would then lease it back to the state.

"We have been working with your administration on the relocation of Moccasin Bend Mental Health Institute," Kelly said in his letter to Lee, obtained by the Times Free Press. "Instead of the state spending hundreds of millions of dollars to rehabilitate the current facility, the city is willing to facilitate the construction of a new state-of-the-art facility that will better meet the mental health needs of our region.

"The relocation will also free up land that helps complete the historic Moccasin Bend National Archeological District, a gem of public space in the heart of Chattanooga."

A spokesperson for Tennessee Mental Health and Substance Abuse Commissioner Marie Williams said in a Friday email the department was not in a position to address the discussion given the governor's planned State of the State Address on Monday night and release of his proposed 2022-2023 state budget.

The city's proposal, obtained by the Times Free Press last week from the city and state through Public Records Act requests, tentatively identified three potential sites within Chattanooga based on acreage and other factors including accessibility and availability of public transportation:

— A 12-acre site owned by Chattanooga and Hamilton County governments including the addresses of 702 E. 11th St., 740 E. 12th St. and a portion of the 600 block of E. 11th St. It is adjacent to the city's wellness center.

— The former 11.8-acre Buster Brown facility at 2001 N. Chamberlain Ave.

— A site owned by Grace Media at 1511 Citico Ave, which is 6.3 acres when combined with a city-owned parcel.

All three properties are located along the city's "medical corridor" and offer convenient public transit access and "would easily support the structures and amenities required for the state's needs," the city says.

Kelly's chief of staff, Joda Thongnopnua, stressed the city's offer is preliminary, noting owners of the two properties have not been contacted. Moreover, the list of properties could grow, the city said in its proposal to the state. Kelly said in one letter that after analyzing general contract building, site costs, equipment and furniture, contingency, "soft" costs, land acquisition and financing costs, the project's costs could range from $130 million to $200 million under three different square-footage scenarios.

The city is suggesting two options for the state to consider: the state could underwrite the full cost of the project on the front end, lease the new facility from the city at a "nominal cost" and cover maintenance costs. Or the state could enter into a long-term lease allowing the city or the city's Health, Educational and Housing Facility Board to issue bonds to finance the project and cover the cost of ongoing maintenance. The monthly lease payment would be about 0.56% of the total project costs.

"We have made every effort to be disciplined in our estimates, and final lease payments may be lower," states the letter from Kelly, who was elected mayor last year. "We believe the city can save the state and taxpayers a significant amount of money by constructing the new hospital and then leasing it back for the state to operate."

Hamilton County delegation's take

At the same time, some Hamilton County legislators point to HCA Healthcare-owned hospitals in Chattanooga and Jasper as possibilities for a new institute. The possibility of relocating the hospital was raised in November by Senate Finance Committee chair Bo Watson, R-Hixson, and House Finance Committee chair Patsy Hazlewood.

Hazlewood, Watson and Sen. Todd Gardenhire, R-Chattanooga — along with Reps. Greg Vital, R-Georgetown, Robin Smith, R-Hixson, and Rep. Yusuf Hakeem, D-Chattanooga — all said they could see how relocating the facility makes sense during in-person interviews or phone calls with the Times Free Press at the state Capitol or by phone.

"We're going to present, I think, an 'A' and a 'B' and maybe a 'C' choice to the governor for the budget," Hazlewood said. "I really have no pre-disposed choice about the location. Obviously, if we can move Moccasin Bend [hospital] and use that facility for a park, that probably is a better use.""

Lee is to unveil his proposed fiscal year 2022-2023 budget Monday night during his State of the State Address.

"I think there is a general understanding that people would like to figure out what to do with that property," Watson said. "We'll wait and see what the governor does Monday [during his State of the State Address and budget release], with Moccasin Bend."

Sen. Todd Gardenhire, R-Chattanooga, said it's a good idea to do something with the property that the psychiatric hospital is sitting on.

"We have several good options on where to move it and to preserve that property down there on Moccasin Bend for the national park and add it to that," he said.

Smith said she's still in the learning phase.

"I'm happy to look at it if there's a good use for our community of the Moccasin Bend property to be a park or something like that, fine," Smith said.

Hakeem said the expense of trying to refurbish the building would be excessive.

"And so I wouldn't have a problem in the hospital being relocated," Hakeem said. "But I want to ensure that all the services that they provide would continue and maybe be enhanced."

Efforts to reach Rep. Esther Helton, R-East Ridge, on Sunday were unsuccessful.

In a telephone interview Saturday, Vital said he believes the community "can agree that the Moccasin Bend Mental Health Institute is greatly in need of physical improvement and it has disintegrated over time."

Saying he wants to ensure Southeast Tennessee continues to meet its mental health needs appropriately, Vital noted the need for services "has probably been greater now coming off the pandemic and other social challenges we've had the past couple of years."

Vital said there also is the interest of the city and others in the community along with some supporters of the national park unit at Moccasin Bend who "believe that this is a moment to reflect and see, as we have talked in the past, that if Moccasin Bend were to ever be relocated or those services provided in a more efficient way or less institutional environment or removed or dispersed across the community, that this could be a historical time to incorporate the balance of the Bend as it's been proposed or talked about into the national park."

Located across the Tennessee River from downtown Chattanooga, the archeological district contains remnants of 12,000 years of continuous habitation, most of it by Native Americans. It includes a number of sites of archeological and cultural significance. With the support of The Friends of Moccasin Bend, then-U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp, R-Chattanooga, pushed for and in 2003 won congressional approval for the creation of the Moccasin Bend Archeological District as a unit of the Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park.

The area played a key role in the histories of the Trail of Tears — the forced removal of Native Americans from parts of the Southeast — as well as the Civil War.

Thongnopnua said in telephone interviews on Saturday that much remains to be sorted out. He said Hamilton County Mayor Jim Coppinger also is supportive of the effort to relocate the mental health hospital's operations to elsewhere in the county.

"The ultimate goal here would be to see a higher and better use of Moccasin Bend as something that every single resident in our region could enjoy," Thongnopnua said. "It is quite literally at the front door of our community, and it's a huge opportunity if that suddenly opened up."

He added that "if I sound like I'm not quite giving complete answers it's because I think we're awaiting more details from the state. We have essentially submitted a high-level series of options to imagine what it could look like for Moccasin Bend to have some other purpose and for the city of Chattanooga to be a partner. We're obviously awaiting on the governor's office to make a decision."

In a Friday afternoon email to the Times Free Press, Commissioner Williams' spokesperson, Matthew Parriott, said that given Lee's State of the State Address and budget release on Monday, that "we can't comment about the funding side. Additionally, a lot of details around Mayor Kelly's proposal are still being explored, so there's not much we can say there at the moment.

"What we can say is Mayor Kelly came to us with a compelling proposal to build a new facility that we're seriously considering. His ideas and his partnership could accomplish several goals that are mutually beneficial to the state and the City of Chattanooga."

Those goals are:

— Continuing to meet the emergency psychiatric hospitalization needs of the area served by Moccasin Bend Mental Health Institute.

— Connecting patients to community-based mental health services after discharge.

— Making the best use of "precious" state funding.

— Making the best use of the Moccasin Bend property.

The hospital has 165 beds and has 459 people on staff. Last year the hospital served more than 2,000 people.

Contact Andy Sher at asher@timesfreepress.com or 615-255-0550. Follow him on Twitter @AndySher1.

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