Image courtesy of JLG Architects

By HARMONY STILES

JAMESTOWN, N.D. – A state-owned behavioral health hospital campus that has been standing since 1885 is being replaced with a brand-new facility across from the current site.

Mortenson is building the $300 million project, designed by JLG Architects.

The location is in Jamestown, N.D., approximately 90 miles west of Fargo.

Spanning 300,000 square feet and multiple stories, its construction began in August 2025 and is designed to modernize state psychiatric care with completion expected in 2027. The facility will include 140 beds and provide acute inpatient psychiatric care, substance abuse treatment, intermediate psychological rehabilitation, forensic evaluations and safety net services.

In addition to inpatient rooms, the facility will offer therapeutic, clinical and assessment spaces for patient care. Computer labs, an exercise/fitness room, music room, PT and OT spaces, a sensory room, rehab apartment, vocational space, a teaching kitchen, cafeteria and library are also a part of the layout.

According to the North Dakota Dept. of Health and Human Services, the new hospital will operate based upon a modernized environment of care known as a house-neighborhood-downtown model. JLG Architects says it’s a design concept that organizes patient units into distinct, scaled zones to create a more personalized and less of an institutional feel.