The founder of a new youth behavioral health facility in Charlotte is seeking solutions to the local mental health crisis through a center that will serve children as young as five years old.

The Katie Blessing Center, currently under construction on Central Avenue at Albemarle Road, will provide nearly 50 inpatient beds in its first phase, along with behavioral urgent care services when it opens next spring.

“We’ve always had a passion for children,” Michael Estramonte, founder of the Katie Blessing Foundation, said during Tuesday’s construction celebration.

Estramonte, who previously worked in the now-vacant building in the early 2000s when it was a clinic, said the idea came after conversations with local doctors.

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