Texas A&M regents OK land swap to help bring mental health hospital to Amarillo

SAN ANTONIO — A land deal announced Tuesday brings plans for a mental health hospital in Amarillo one step closer to reality.

Texas A&M regents voted unanimously during their meeting Tuesday to approve a land deal in Amarillo that will go toward building a mental health facility in the Texas Panhandle, earmarked by the state legislature as a priority last year.

According to a university news release, the deal involves leasing a 10-acre tract of land that the Texas A&M Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory (TVDML) formerly occupied, located at 6610 W. Amarillo Blvd. The lab was moved to the West Texas A&M University (WT) campus in Canyon.

Texas A&M said through this agreement, TVDML is leasing the Amarillo site for $1 a year to the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) to construct a planned 75-bed mental hospital.

As part of the land deal, the city of Amarillo would donate to WT a bus terminal in downtown Amarillo, which is adjacent to WT's Harrington Academic Hall Amarillo Center, as well as $750,000.

“This partnership between HHSC and the A&M System is providing WT’s Laura and Joe Street School of Nursing the opportunity to expand our impact on mental health in rural west Texas,” said WT President Walter V. Wendler in the release.

HHSC plans to break ground on the hospital late this summer, with the goal to begin admitting patients in fall 2027.

“This deal shows when state leadership listens to what people say they need and collaborate, great things happen,” said John Sharp, Chancellor of The Texas A&M University System in the news release. “Working together, the city of Amarillo, the state and The Texas A&M University System are solving one of the Panhandle’s most vexing health care dilemmas today.”

Texas A&M said the 88th Texas Legislature provided $159 million to build the hospital, but it directed HHSC to work with local stakeholders to find the land for it.

Currently, anyone in a mental health crisis is sent to Wichita Falls or a farther state hospital for care, Potter County Judge Nancy Tanner said, and there’s a long wait for a bed. “Every county in the Panhandle that I do the mental health hearing for, I can sign an order and that individual will be able to be sent to that hospital in two days, rather than up to three weeks for a bed to open in Wichita Falls, which rarely happens,” Tanner said in a previous Globe-News story. "The people in the Panhandle will finally get the long-term mental health care help that they need. This will be huge for the Panhandle in treating mental health.”

Amarillo Mayor Cole Stanley said he is grateful for the partnership with the Texas A&M University System. “This truly is evidence of how the Panhandle continues to come together for the greater good of those most in need in our community,” Stanley said. “This not only provides a location for the new hospital, but also provides a new space next to Harrington Academic Hall WTAMU Amarillo Center that will facilitate an entire workforce development program that is greatly needed in the panhandle.”

Texas A&M said the net effect of the swap is an even deal: TVDML will get paid $1.3 million — the appraised value of the property in 2023 — and WT will get property and cash worth $1.3 million.

“The real bottom line here is that Amarillo and the rest of the Panhandle get the mental health care the region needs, but never had,” Chancellor Sharp said.

This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: Texas A&M regents OK land swap for mental health hospital to Amarillo