07/19/2019 – ATIN – Acquisitive Meridian Behavioral Health of Minnesota will be closing its Serenity Acres center in Maryland, according filings with the state. The move at the 113 bed center will put 65 employees out of work and will be effective Aug 31.
Serenity Acres was founded by entrepreneur Larry Adler, who sold the center to Meridian in late 2016 after significantly boosting capacity earlier that year. Adler was a pioneer in bringing to the East Coast a model of treatment center mostly found in California, where state laws make it difficult to deny zoning to centers wishing to convert residential housing, in residential neighborhoods, into addiction treatment facilities. These laws gave birth to the luxury treatment hub in Malibu and a model of treatment center, which Treatment Magazine has dubbed the “six-bed model,” that has exploded into more than 2,000 centers across California.
Even though no similar laws exist in Maryland, Adler was able to buy a group of seven homes near Annapolis to create Serenity Acres, with limited NIMBY interference.
Fast growing Meridian Behavioral, which is highly focused on addiction treatment, but not exclusively, has been an aggresive acquirer of addiction treatment centers nationwide, including Valley Vista in Vermont and New Beginnings of Minnesota.
