UF Health celebrates new Florida Recovery Center campus with groundbreaking ceremony
Leadership from UF Health and the Florida Recovery Center break ground at the future location of the FRC. (Photo by Nate Guidry)
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Media contact: Matt Walker, mwal0013@shands.ufl.edu, 352-265-8395
By Matt Walker
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — More than 47,000 square feet of hope and healing. Nearly 6 acres of the latest resources for recovery from addiction.
UF Health broke ground today at the future location of the new Florida Recovery Center campus, or FRC, in northwest Gainesville. The celebration — which coincides with Mental Health Awareness Month — marked the development of an expanded, upgraded facility that can care for more patients struggling with addiction.
“We have one of the nation’s most highly recognized and distinguished programs to advance scientific discovery that leads to new treatment advances in caring for those suffering from addiction or substance use disorders,” said Steve Motew, M.D., M.H.A., FACS, president and system CEO of the UF Health clinical enterprise. “Now, with our latest plans for a new Florida Recovery Center campus, we will soon have facilities that match the clinical excellence offered by our nationally renowned UF addiction medicine specialists.”
Ranked the No. 1 addiction treatment center in Florida and No. 6 nationwide by Newsweek, the FRC is uniquely positioned as one of a handful of addiction recovery programs nationwide that is part of an academic health center. As such, it offers patients the full scope of medical care for the health concerns that can accompany addiction.
The state-of-the-art facility will expand patient beds to 138 and include 47,676 square feet of residential and therapeutic spaces in three buildings — a single-story commons building and two three-story residential buildings. The new campus will feature updated amenities, including a pool, gym, outdoor recreation area and pickleball court. An existing 18,700-square-foot administrative building will be renovated to house offices and services such as addiction evaluations, group and individual therapy, lectures and outpatient care.
“Addiction can effect anyone from any walk of life,” said Traci d’Auguste, chief operating officer of UF Health. “Since the UF Health Florida Recovery Center was founded in 1999, the University of Florida has shown they understand the complexities of the disease of addiction. This is why patients come here from all over the country, knowing that our UF Health physicians and researchers are leading experts in the field of addiction treatment.”
The new FRC facility, which will be located just off Northwest 39th Avenue near UF Health Springhill and Haven Hospice, includes modern, spacious areas filled with light, conducive to healing and recovery.
“It was our dream to be here and to have a treatment center here. It was always our dream to stand here today, and to have this dream be realized is somewhat surreal,” said Scott Teitelbaum, M.D., medical director of the FRC.
The new campus will replace the current facility in southwest Gainesville, near Williston Road on 13th Street. Construction is expected to be completed by fall of 2025.
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