A medical facility that will serve more than 6,000 individuals annually is coming to the low-income, federally designated medically underserved Mott Haven community.
On Wednesday, November 13, Senator Luis Sepúlveda and Office of Alcoholism & Substance Abuse Services (OASAS) Commissioner Arlene González-Sánchez joined Samaritan Daytop Village in the groundbreaking of the Richard Pruss Wellness Center.
Established in 1960, Samaritan Daytop Village is nationally recognized for its treatment of substance use disorder as well as for helping veterans.
Located at 362 E. 148th Street, it will be a six-story building and 84,000 square feet.
The multi-use facility will include primary care and dental care, individual and group counseling and therapy, substance addiction treatment, and administrative space.
The project is being developed by Manatus Development Group LLC and will cost $35 million.
Four existing Samaritan Daytop Village programs will relocate to this building, keeping more than 180 jobs in the neighborhood.
The existing area programs to be relocated to this facility are: New Beginnings Community Counseling Center, at 2780 3rd Avenue, Hope Care Management Program, 368 E. 148th St., Independence Outpatient Treatment Program, 2776-78 3rd Avenue and Willis Avenue Opioid Treatment Program, 477-479 Willis Avenue.
Samaritan Daytop Village’s president, Mitchell Netburn, told the Bronx Times, the new facility will benefit the entire neighborhood. The four centers that are closing are all outdated.
Netburn said about 10 to 15 percent of the building will be dedicated to primary care and the remainder will be for treating people with chronic illnesses and opioid addiction.
He noted that he has met with members of Community Board 1 and elected officials and they support the project.
“We’ve been a part of the community for a long time,” he said. “The needs of the community have grown. Nobody wants to go to three different locations for services. It’s just an inconvenience. To better serve the clients and the community, we felt that there should be a state of the art one stop shop.”
This ‘one-stop shop’ for medical and behavioral health services is named in honor of the late Richard Pruss, president emeritus and former board chair of Samaritan Village (later re-named Samaritan Daytop Village).
A pioneer in the field of substance use disorder treatment, Pruss became president and CEO of Samaritan Village in 1974 and led the agency until his retirement in 2008.
During his tenure, Samaritan grew from a single outpatient clinic in Richmond Hill to one of the largest nonprofit treatment service providers in New York State.
Occupancy is expected during the first quarter of 2021.
