Avita Behavioral Health Crisis Center
Gainesville, GA

Located off Old Cornelia Highway in Gainesville, Georgia, this new 28,000 SF behavioral health crisis center replaces an existing and aging center in Flowery Branch, GA. The center offers 24-hour crisis walk-in services, a peer living room, access controlled 23-hour temporary observation unit with a census capacity of 15, and access-controlled Crisis Stabilization Unit with 30 single bedrooms – 6 of which can be isolated for developmentally disabled patients.  Northeast Georgia residents seeking mental health stabilization or detoxification from substances can receive voluntary or involuntary treatment in this state-of-the-art safe haven for healing.

The project sought to balance the necessary design requirements for anti-ligature fixtures, weighted furniture, glass alternatives, coordinated access control and security monitoring components with thoughtful selections of calming tones, vibrant furniture, murals and materials daylit via clerestory windows and through incorporation of outdoor pavilions featuring fabric security fence murals, providing a private “nature-infused” outdoor environment.

Surrounded by steep inclines and rocky topography in this suburban community, the facility was sited on an elevated greenfield site located strategically off Old Cornelia Highway near the Rabbittown community in Gainesville, Georgia – an original hamlet named for the primary source of food for families and an area somewhat marginalized by the development of larger urban communities to the southwest.

The construction was made possible by a combination of Avita Community Partners’ capital reserves and a $9.8M GA Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities (DBHDD) grant from the State of Georgia funded by the general assembly.

Winter Construction served as the CM-at-Risk on the project which reached completion in June of 2021.

Hussey Gay Bell provided programming, full architectural design, interiors, permitting and construction phase services.