Metrocare Mental Health and Disability Innovation Center, Dallas
For more than half a century, Metrocare has served as Dallas County’s primary public provider of mental health, intellectual and developmental disability, housing, and wellness services. However, its Hillside site—originally constructed in the 1950s as the Beverly Hills Sanatorium—suffered from decades of deferred maintenance. With only four of the 11 original buildings remaining functional, Metrocare leadership adopted a new guiding principle for redevelopment: “A sick building cannot heal.”
To realize this vision, Metrocare partnered with Kirksey Architecture (Dallas) to design the Metrocare Mental Health and Intellectual Disability Innovation Center. The new 10-acre Hillside Campus, completed in September 2025, reimagines the site as a consolidated, trauma-informed healthcare district that replaces marginal public facilities with dignified, community-centered spaces.
Transforming Hillside into a trauma-informed campus
The campus seamlessly combines behavioral health, primary care, pharmacy operations, housing and homelessness support, and workforce education. This integrated model increases Metrocare’s service capacity by 23 percent, enabling care for approximately 13,000 additional individuals annually.
A defining architectural feature of the campus is the Tranquility Garden, which serves as both a therapeutic landscape and a public amenity. Rooted in the Texas Blackland Prairie ecosystem and shaped by the site’s natural topography, the garden uses prairie-style plantings, calming water features, shaded walkways, and a sensory playground to support healing, inclusion, and environmental resilience.
Metrocare Mental Health and Disability Innovation Center project details
Location: Dallas
Completion date: September 2025
Owner: Metrocare
Total building area: 309,931 sq. ft.
Total construction cost: Approximately $96 million
Cost/sq. ft.: Not disclosed
Architect: Kirksey Architecture
Interior designer: Kirksey Architecture
General contractor: Whiting-Turner Contracting Company
Engineer: DBR Engineering Consultants, HGA
Builder: Whiting-Turner Contracting Company
Art consultant: Art Expressions
Carpet/flooring: Shaw Contract, Mondo Rubber, Johnsonsite Base
Ceiling/wall systems: Rulon, USG
Doors/locks/hardware: The Door Company, VT Industries, Assa Abloy
Fabric/textiles: Momentum, Ulta Leather
Furniture—seating/casegoods: Haworth, SitOnIt, Carolina, Kimball, AIS
Lighting: Sabin, Finelite, BuzziSpace
Signage/wayfinding: Kirksey Architecture
Surfaces—solid/other: Corian, Pionite, Nevamar, Vicostone, Garden State Tile, Fiandre
Project details are provided by the design team and not vetted by Healthcare Design.