Federal grant to add six rooms at Tamarack treatment center in Fairbanks

Alaska Behavioral Health will add six private resident rooms to its Tamarack residential treatment center in Fairbanks, funded by a $1.95 million grant from the federal Health Resources and Services Administration.

The Alaska Department of Health lists Tamarack Living Center as an adult mental health residential provider with 10 residential places at 1521 Hilton Avenue. The federal award record states the addition is meant to increase capacity to meet local demand for structured behavioral health residential services in Interior Alaska.

The award went to Anchorage Community Mental Health Services Inc., which does business as Alaska Behavioral Health. The plan calls for a 5,709-square-foot addition and a 1,216-square-foot covered patio. Each new room will have its own bathroom. The addition also includes a commercial kitchen, dining and gathering spaces, administrative offices and laundry.

The estimated project cost is about $3.06 million, including $120,000 for design. The federal money covers eligible construction, site work and fixed equipment. The award record does not say where the remaining $1.1 million or so will come from.

The addition will be built through a design-build contract. The record calls for insulated concrete form foundations, a high-performance building envelope and mechanical systems suited to subarctic conditions.

Alaska Behavioral Health began adult mental health residential treatment at Tamarack in November 2021, according to its open house announcement. Alaska News previously covered the provider's certification as one of the state's first two clinics in a federal behavioral health demonstration program, alongside JAMHI Health & Wellness in Juneau.

The same federal agency also awarded $3 million to The Greater Fairbanks Community Hospital Foundation. That money will renovate about 9,418 square feet at Fairbanks Memorial Hospital and create a new inpatient adolescent behavioral health unit, according to the hospital award record. The state Department of Health approved a Certificate of Need for the hospital's $6.2 million project, which includes a four-bed adolescent unit.

The Tamarack award period opens Wednesday and runs through Sept. 29, 2029.

The record sets no date for construction to begin.