Livengrin Opens $2.5 million Expansion

More than 70 clients of are now living on Serenity Lane.

That's the employee-named road where three new suburban-style houses were recently opened.

The $2.5 million construction project is the largest in the 40-year history of the addiction recovery organization founded along Hulmeville Road.

Spokesman Keith Mason said the residential rehab patitents moved early this month from two dorm-style wings built in the 1960s and 1970s after all the necessary clearances were obtained from state and municipal health-care agencies.

Detox patients remain in a supervised medical wing, Mason said.

The houses, providing a total of 18,000 square feet, sit on a hillside just steps from the central manor-house facility at the heart of a 41-acre campus.

They include small kitchens, a laundry, a lounge area and a deck facing the woods. They have been adapted on the inside to include multiple bedrooms. Male and female clients, who often stay at Livengrin for a three-week period, are segregated.

The houses are seen as an enhancement to the treatment process.

Another advantage is that Livengrin can now repurpose its two dormitory wings. That space will be used for such things as meeting rooms, space for counselors and expansion of services to include crafts, exercise and spiritual needs.

Funding for the construction project was accomplished without a capital campaign.

In addition to Livengrin's own money, the project was assisted by a $500,000 grant from Pennsylvania's Redevelopment Capital Assistance Program, based on recommendations from Rep. Gene DiGirolamo (R-Bucks).

Livengrin, The Foundation for Addiction Recovery, is a nonprofit treatment organization founded in 1966. It has centers in seven towns including Levittown, Doylestown and Philadelphia, and has treated more than 100,000 people with alcohol and/or drug addiction.