Topeka ? The Menninger Clinic, long-known as one of the nationâÂÂs top psychiatric hospitals, plans to leave Kansas for Houston to team with the Baylor College of Medicine and The Methodist Hospital, officials said Wednesday.

The move ends a 77-year legacy of advancing breakthroughs and treatment for mental illness that brought international acclaim to Kansasâ capital. In that time, the Menninger name has become synonymous with reform of institutions and increasing public awareness of the plight of the mentally ill.

Dr. Roy Menninger, grandson of hospital founder C.F. Menninger, said watching the clinic leave Topeka and Kansas would be difficult but that teaming with world-class facilities in Texas signaled a âÂÂrebirthâ for the facility.

Menninger officials described the move as âÂÂa good fitâ that would revitalize MenningerâÂÂs mission of treatment, research and training. But there were few smiles at the news conference on the Menninger campus.

The announcement came after a painful process as the clinic shrank and lost money. The once-bustling campus on rolling hills in western Topeka has been mostly vacant in recent years.

Menninger now concentrates on providing specialized hospital care. Its offerings include programs for eating disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorders, and drug and alcohol abuse. It has space on its Topeka campus for 90 patients.

Two years ago, the clinic announced a partnership with Baylor College of Medicine and The Methodist Hospital, but the proposal fell through after 10 months of negotiations.

This time, however, it stuck, with officials saying that both sides got sweeter deals by stepping back and taking a longer view of the proposal.

Menninger officials said the new deal put them in better position to run the clinic, while Baylor officials said Menninger managers had shown in the past two years they could run an efficient operation without sacrificing patient care.

âÂÂWe all feel like this is a win for all the organizations,â said Stuart Yudofsky, chairman of BaylorâÂÂs psychiatric department and chief of psychiatry at The Methodist Hospital.

Financial terms of the partnership were kept secret, as were who else proposed teaming with Menninger.

KU bid falls short

Kansas University was one of 13 groups that proposed taking Menninger in as a partner.

Janet Murguia, KUâÂÂs executive vice chancellor for university relations, said she suspected the stateâÂÂs current budget crisis might have played a role in MenningerâÂÂs decision to leave.

âÂÂWe made good-faith overtures to Menninger, and we really had hopes that we could find an agreement that would allow them to stay in the state,â Murguia said. âÂÂBut considering the overall state budget, itâÂÂs not surprising that they might try to look elsewhere.âÂÂ

Gov. Bill Graves initially had put together a deal worth about $100 million to entice Menninger to stay in Kansas. But Graves said Wednesday that even after the first proposal between Menninger and Baylor collapsed, it was apparent the two still were interested in each other.

On the second round, Graves said the state made no new offer and, because of the collapse of tax revenues, would have been hard-pressed to back up the original $100 million proposal.

Elite company

In moving to Houston, Menninger joins elite institutions. The Baylor College of Medicine, with total research support of $339 million, is among the top 10 of the 125 U.S. medical schools in federal research funding. Once affiliated with Baylor University, it is now independent.

The Methodist Hospital is home to the DeBakey Heart Center, where more than 1,500 open-heart surgeries are performed every year.

The Baylor College of MedicineâÂÂs psychiatry department will be renamed for Menninger.

All of MenningerâÂÂs Topeka assets will be sold, and its 250 employees will be offered jobs in Houston. The relocation will be completed in June 2003.