Worcester Business Journal

Growing mental health demand Last November, the U.S. Health Resources & Services Administration forecasted more than 10,000 additional mental health providers will be needed by 2025 to keep up with demand. In 2013, a survey by the administration found 20 percent of Americans reported having a behavioral health dis- order but did not receive treatment for it. "It's a growing part of medicine," Bahnassi said of mental health services. Bahnassi said he had searched for years for office space before coming upon the vacant site at 435 Shrewsbury St. Bahnassi, a 57-year-old Syria native, first came to Worcester for a residency at UMass Medical Center, where he studied psychiatry. He's never left, running Behavioral Healthcare Services for more than 25 years. "I love Worcester," he said. "It's culturally a very rich city. I love the diversity, I love the people." Demand pushes mental-health practice to build new $4M+ building Creating room to grow BY GRANT WELKER Worcester Business Journal News Editor A mjad Bahnassi's Worcester psychiatry practice has long out- grown its two buildings, both converted homes off Park Avenue, and not been able to keep up with growing demand. To solve this problem on his own, Bahnassi is making a late-career leap with a new four-story office building on Shrewsbury Street to double Behavioral Healthcare Services' space and leave the other half of the build- ing open to other offices. The 20,000-square-foot building will cost $4.25 million to $5 million and be complete by the end of the year. The project demonstrates both a growing need for mental health ser- vices and a dearth of available new office space in the Worcester area. Amjad Bahnassi hasn't announced a tenant yet for the floors his mental- health business won't use in his new Shrewsbury Street office building, but he has been in touch with prospects. 32 Worcester Business Journal | August 21, 2017 | wbjournal.com P H O T O / G R A N T W E L K E R

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