Wake County is working to build a $21 million mental-health crisis center and substance-abuse detox unit, which is expected to open in 2010.

It is hoped the new center will blunt the impact of the pending closure of Dorothea Dix Hospital, the state mental institution in Raleigh. Dix was originally set to close last year, but problems with the construction of a new state hospital in Butner have delayed Dix's demise until at least May 1.

Wake has also contracted with Holly Hill Hospital in Raleigh to admit indigent patients whom the private facility previously would have turned away. In cooperation with the county, Holly Hill plans to add space for 44 beds to make up for some of the capacity lost when Dix closes.

The addition at Holly Hill won't be ready until at least 2009. To help cover the gap, Wake and state officials are close to an agreement that would keep one ward at Dix open temporarily.

County commissioners have approved paying the state up to $5.3 million to help defray about half the annual cost for 60 psychiatric beds that would serve adult patients.

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