Patients can move into the new Austin State Hospital summer 2024, officials say

State and local leaders came Wednesday to celebrate the completion of the new Austin State Hospital, which took years and cost hundreds of millions of dollars to build.

AUSTIN (KXAN) – State and local leaders came Wednesday to celebrate the completion of the new Austin State Hospital, which took years and cost hundreds of millions of dollars to build. 

It’s not quite ready for new patients – officials told KXAN people will move in sometime during the summer – but many are hopeful this $305 million facility will help patients get better faster.

 “The new facility’s person-centered design and approach will ensure that folks experiencing a mental health crisis will receive the right care at the right time in the right place,” Austin Mayor Kirk Watson said. 

The new building replaced one built in the 1800s and was called the Texas State Lunatic Asylum until the mid-1900s.

At the event Wednesday, officials said as our understanding of brain health has evolved over the years, it was essential to update the facility to reflect what research has shown to be effective in helping people overcome mental health disturbances. 

The new Austin State Hospital is part of an over $2 billion state effort to replace and renovate hospitals across Texas. 

The hospital will serve more than 75 counties in Central Texas and focus on stabilizing patients with acute psychiatric illnesses so they can eventually return to the community, according to a Texas Health and Human Services Commission press release. 

“HHSC is very excited about the new opportunities this state-of-the-art facility will bring,” said Texas Health and Human Services Executive Commissioner Cecile Erwin Young. “Staff will be able to provide compassionate inpatient psychiatric treatment in a modern facility that matches their innovative practices.”