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Charter Asheville Behavioral Health System Announces Closing.
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Charter Asheville Behavioral Health System has announced they will be closing the 139-bed psychiatric hospital located in the former Kenilworth Inn at 60 Caledonia Road in Asheville. The announcement came as a shock to many in the medical community. Charter Asheville Behavioral Health System employees 175 people and is the only psychiatric hospital in the area providing inpatient services for children.
Charter Asheville Behavioral Health System is located on a 20-acre campus whose principle building is the former Kenilworth Inn. The property is owned by Crescent Real Estate Equities Co. of Fort Worth, Texas, which has announced that they intend to sell the 87-year-old property.
The closing of Charter Asheville Behavioral Health System leaves three area hospitals to provide for inpatient psychiatric care. Mission St Joseph's Hospital provides a total of 49 beds available, nine for adolescents, Pardee Hospital in Hendersonville has 21 beds for adults and Park Ridge Hospital currently has 26 beds, but has plans to open an additional 15 beds in May, 2000.
The closure of Charter Asheville will leave a gaping hole in child inpatient psychiatric care in the Western North Carolina area. The closest facility providing child inpatient psychiatric care will be in Johnson City, Tennessee. Facilities providing child inpatient psychiatric care are also available in Greenville, South Carolina and Hickory, North Carolina. Inpatient psychiatric care for children requires the involvement of the whole family and, to have the family in one town and the child in another, greatly reduces the quality and effectiveness of the care. Mission St. Joseph's Hospital has considered providing child inpatient psychiatric care, but they currently do not have any additional space available to accommodate child inpatient psychiatric care.
The original Kenilworth Inn was built in 1890 and was destroyed by fire in 1909. The Kenilworth Inn was rebuilt in 1913 and served as a military hospital for officers during World War I. The Kenilworth Inn Resort reopened following World War I, but failed during the depression and was closed. The property was purchased by two local doctors, William Ray and Mark A Griffin, two brothers who reopened the property as a psychiatric hospital in 1931. It has remained a psychiatric hospital since 1931.
The future of this historic property is of great concern to the Asheville community. Its preservation and conversion to a different use will be followed by many in Western North Carolina.
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