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RALEIGH -- The Department of Health and Human Services is beginning to downsize the use of Dorthea Dix Hospital in Raleigh.

The DHHS will still see a handful of patients at Dix but all others will be moved to Central Regional Hospital in Butner and Cherry Hospital in Goldsboro. It would cost about $30 million a year to keep Dix running and those funds have been cut.

"The question is whether or not there's a decision by the by the legislature to refund the operations. If they do not make that decision, ultimately Dix will close,"
DHHS Secretary Lanier Cansler said.

The property, spanning more than 300 acres within clear view of downtown Raleigh, will be reduced to mostly just office space by the end of the year but the mayor has another idea.

"This is an outstanding piece of land, a real natural resource. It's something that ought to be preserved for the whole public and not just used for offices,” said Raleigh Mayor Charles Meeker.

Meeker says he sees the land as a destination park, like Central Park in New York.

"We're hopeful that the governor and the Council of State will designate it as a park property and start the master planning process for that destination park," he said.

Cansler says the decision is up to the governor and other state leaders, but there are still 1,200 to 1,300 employees scattered around the campus who would have no place to go.

About 750 staff members who currently work at Dix will be given the option of being reassigned to other facilities run by the state. No staff cuts are planned.