The mental health care provider that bought a never-opened inpatient treatment facility in Kennewick is modifying the building ahead of it supporting mental health services for voluntarily and involuntarily admitted patients.

Architectural drawings from Design West Architects filed with the city of Kennewick indicate that Aristo Healthcare plans to build walls to fully separate currently shared spaces in the facility at 7319 W. Hood Place.

The walls, primarily in a large social/dining room in the middle of the building, are intended to create areas intended for voluntary and involuntary patients.

Work also will be conducted to convert an existing storage room into a restroom.

The total cost of improvements is listed at nearly $100,000.

Bison General Construction of Zillah is the general contractor.

Aristo also indicates in its building permit application that the facility “will be occupied by a psychiatric practice meeting the current occupancy classification for the facility.”

The Seattle-based health care provider has not responded to requests for comment from the Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business.

The company paid $5.5 million in July 2025 for the facility, which was built by Salt Lake City-based Sana Behavioral Health in 2021 for $10.25 million for a similar purpose – but Sana never opened it.

The vacant 16,518-square-foot, single-story building behind the Tri-Cities Cancer Center was initially designed to provide inpatient psychiatric care to seniors, though that would not have included dementia care.

Aristo Healthcare received two grants in 2022 totaling $5 million from the state Department of Commerce as part of a five-year plan to modernize and transform mental health services in the state and relieve capacity issues at the state’s two large mental health hospitals. The health care provider at the time said it intended to build its own facility, calling it Tri-City Nueva Esperanza.

State Commerce officials confirmed Aristo is using the grants to open the facility as early as spring 2026.

Aristo is already operating a 16-bed intensive behavioral health facility in Renton, which received a $1.96 million grant from Commerce in 2020. The Kennewick facility will house those with behavioral health conditions who are being held under 90- or 180-day civil commitment orders.

Lourdes Behavioral Health in Richland, part of Pasco-based Lourdes Health, is the only other inpatient mental health facility in the Tri-Cities and has 32 beds.

Columbia Valley Center for Recovery, currently under construction at the former Kennewick General/Trios hospital in downtown Kennewick and opening in early 2026, will offer patient substance abuse and detox services.