CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — State officials say they are no longer moving forward with plans to build a new Moccasin Bend Mental Health Institute on Birmingham Highway.
In a statement released Monday afternoon, the Tennessee Department of General Services says…
“After further deliberation, the Tennessee Department of General Services (DGS) has decided not to move forward with plans to build a replacement hospital for Moccasin Bend Mental Health Institute at 1001 Birmingham Highway in Chattanooga. DGS will continue working with the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services and state, city, and county leaders to review additional sites for the Moccasin Bend Mental Health Institute replacement facility.”
The site where Moccasin Bend Mental Health Institute would’ve moved to on Birmingham Highway.
The state has made several attempts 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.
Earlier plans called for replacing and expanding the hospital on its existing Moccasin Bend property.
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.
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.
Last week, the Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (TDMHSAS) and Department of General Services (DGS) announced that they had chosen Birmingham Highway as the new location.
The state recalled those plans on Monday.
The decision comes after some Lookout Valley residents and leaders raised concerns about the site, including traffic and the lack of community involvement.
Chattanooga city councilman Chip Henderson says he thinks the community’s response made an impact.
“We were not engaged as a community, as leaders. So this completely blindsided us, and that would be the first thing that I would say I would like to see happen differently next time,” Henderson says. “Let your concerns be known to the state. I believe they spoke out, and now we are looking for another site.”
Mayor Weston Wamp released a statement about the decision, saying…
“I’m extremely disappointed, particularly considering the widespread support for the site recently purchased by the state.”
Mayor Tim Kelly’s office also weighed in, saying…
“The Kelly administration has worked diligently for years alongside our other local partners to secure a new site, so we are deeply disappointed in this decision. We hope the DGS can secure another acceptable site soon, but any site near the workforce it requires is going to have issues to mitigate. It’s hard to imagine a more ideal site than the one identified, but we will keep our fingers crossed and help in whatever way we can.”
The new hospital would’ve had capacity for up to 200 beds, whereas the current hospital holds 150.