CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — After years of debate over where to put a new Moccasin Bend Mental Health Institute, Tennessee officials say they’ve picked a location.
They’re expected to reveal it Wednesday afternoon.
The Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services and Department of General Services will join state and local leaders at the existing Moccasin Bend hospital at 3 p.m. to announce the new site.
Photo via the State of Tennessee’s website.
The announcement could answer a question Chattanooga and surrounding communities have been wrestling with for years.
The state has been trying to replace the aging Moccasin Bend Mental Health Institute, which opened in 1961 and serves 52 counties across East Tennessee.
The current hospital has 150 adult psychiatric beds and primarily treats people with severe and persistent mental illness, many of whom are hospitalized on an emergency involuntary basis.
Photo: NewsChannel 9 SkyView camera.
Earlier plans called for replacing and expanding the hospital on its existing Moccasin Bend property.
That proposal called for a roughly 255,000-square-foot hospital with 200 beds, consolidating programs now spread among several buildings.
But building a new hospital on Moccasin Bend became the center of a years-long debate over the site’s historical and archaeological significance.
Conservationists and Native American groups pushed the state to move the hospital elsewhere rather than disturb more of the land.
Then came a major turn in September 2024.
Photo: NewsChannel 9 SkyView camera.
An archaeological review found 73% of the state-owned hospital property contains buried historic and pre-contact materials, including evidence of Woodland-period occupation.
The survey found no human remains, but archaeologists said some areas could contain burials that had not yet been discovered.
Gov. Bill Lee announced the state would abandon plans to build the replacement hospital on the existing property and instead look elsewhere.
State Sen. Bo Watson said at the time the archaeological findings demonstrated the importance of protecting the Moccasin Bend site.
Finding that “elsewhere” has brought its own complications.
A potential site in Chattanooga’s Eastdale neighborhood near Tunnel Boulevard was later ruled out.
Then attention turned east.
Late last year, Bradley County leaders disclosed that the state had explored property there for the replacement hospital.
Bradley County officials opposed that proposal, and that location was subsequently taken out of consideration.
Wednesday, the state says it will finally announce where the hospital will go.
Mental Health Commissioner Marie Williams and General Services Commissioner Andy Kidd are expected to make the announcement alongside Watson, Hamilton County Mayor Weston Wamp, Chattanooga Mayor Tim Kelly and Moccasin Bend CEO Mary Young.
The announcement is scheduled for 3 p.m. Wednesday at the existing Moccasin Bend Mental Health Institute.
Depend on us to keep you posted as we learn more.