Crews are expected to break ground this spring on a long-term treatment and recovery facility for people with substance abuse disorders, located on nearly 9 acres of undeveloped land at 1000 Medical Center Drive in Wilmington. 

Trillium Health Resources, a governmental agency that manages mental health, substance use and intellectual/developmental disability services across eastern North Carolina, is investing about $24 million in construction and startup costs for two facilities, the one in Wilmington and another in Greenville, said Jennifer Mackethan, communications and marketing director for Trillium. The Wilmington site will receive about half of the funding, she said.

Open to men only, the 68,000-square-foot building will include 200 beds but be scalable to 300, with completion estimated for January 2018, Mackethan said. The construction manager is JM Thompson Co., and the architect is iS Design.

On Jan. 19, the New Hanover County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously to approve $319,375 annually for three years to have 25 designated beds at the new facility. 

The beds will be reserved for individuals who would otherwise be incarcerated at the New Hanover County jail as part of a memorandum of understanding between the county and Trillium, according to a January news release from Trillium.

Beth Dawson, chairwoman of the New Hanover County Board of Commissioners, said in the January release that the partnership "will make a tremendous impact in our region by offering recovery services to those who need it most. We will see a positive return on the county's investment in a short period of time, and delay anticipated expansion costs for our jail as we reduce jail capacity. This unanimous decision by the New Hanover County Board of Commissioners is evidence of our commitment to our community to provide services to our citizens in the most effective manner as well as improve the quality of life for many of our citizens.”

The beds reserved for the New Hanover County jail diversion agreement would be targeted to individuals without a violent charge, who are non-gang affiliated and who are not using methamphetamine, the release said.

The facility will be open to any man desiring recovery from alcohol or drugs, according to the release, and provide "underserved adults with a program to restore them to a healthy life through an overnight emergency shelter; non-medical detoxification in a social setting; and a long-term, 12- step based residential peer-run recovery program."