Rady Children’s to break ground on new mental health hospital next year

After years of planning, Rady Children’s Hospital will soon break ground on a new behavioral health building that will double or even quadruple the number of beds available for patients who need urgent mental health care.

Design of the three-story facility is nearly complete, and will be built on Rady’s Serra Mesa medical campus using a recently cleared parcel on Birmingham Way between the hospital’s Acute Care Pavilion and an existing parking structure. Construction is expected to start in July, with opening day projected to occur in late 2028 or early 2029.

The new building will house Rady’s inpatient Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Services unit, doubling its number of beds from 24 to 48, with all patients housed in single rooms, a feature that has not always been possible in recent years as the demand for child and adolescent mental health care has kept beds at capacity. The plan, officials said, is to spread these rooms across two floors, dividing the patient population by age.

Emergency services are expected to see an even larger expansion. Rady already has a dedicated emergency unit for psychiatric emergencies, but in the new building, it will quadruple in size, jumping from a capacity of six to 24. Space will also be dedicated to serve those who do not need overnight hospital stays, with a new partial hospitalization and intensive outpatient program capable of serving about 70 patients per day.

Partial hospitalization programs, also spec...