Article Text

Fairfax County has purchased a Chantilly treatment facility for $7 million, setting the stage for a major expansion of round-the-clock mental health and substance-use crisis care for adults.

The 80,000-square-foot property at 14554 Lee Road currently operates as Connections Chantilly, a 16-bed short-term residential treatment center. County property records show the government took possession of the site on March 4.

Under the planned transformation, the facility will become a Crisis Receiving and Stabilization Center offering an alternative to psychiatric hospitalization. It will also treat people who need a safe setting to withdraw from substances.

Seven units are slated to be added, and the expanded center will provide walk-in behavioral health services 24 hours a day. County officials expect the new services to begin in late 2027.

The existing 16-bed center will remain open during construction. As of Wednesday, no required construction permit applications had been filed since the purchase.

County officials said the expansion will give residents greater access to crisis treatment closer to home while easing demand for scarce beds at state psychiatric hospitals. Fairfax County currently operates two crisis stabilization units alongside other emergency and crisis-response programs.

The center will also allow law enforcement officers to transfer custody of some people under temporary detention orders. Officials said that could reduce the time patients spend in police custody or waiting in local emergency departments, enabling officers to return to community duties sooner and freeing hospitals to handle more urgent medical cases.

The acquisition is part of a broader county effort to expand behavioral health treatment. Fairfax County recently celebrated the opening of the Northern Virginia Adolescent Treatment Center at the Tim Harmon campus, 4213 Walney Road in Chantilly.

That facility began providing residential, medically managed detoxification services for young people with drug and alcohol addictions on Tuesday. It will also treat conditions such as anxiety and depression that can occur alongside addiction.

Speaking before a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Friday, March 20, Sully District Supervisor Kathy Smith said rising youth overdoses have deeply affected the region and left families struggling to find appropriate care. She said young patients have too often been forced to travel far from home for treatment, and the new center demonstrates that those services can be delivered within the community.