Fresh images: $700M+ hospital complex bound for Southwest Atlanta

An investment totaling more than $700 million that’s meant to plug a healthcare gap in Southwest Atlanta is officially out of the bag. 

Officials with Morehouse School of Medicine, Atrium Health, and city and county government have released the first visuals and more details regarding a new hospital and care network bound for The MET Atlanta district in Adair Park. A hospital investment at the property along Metropolitan Parkway had been rumored for years—and verified in state filings in June. 

The partnership between Charlotte-based Atrium Health (part of Advocate Health) and Morehouse School of Medicine, which recently gained approval, is intended to bring healthcare closer to families in south and west Atlanta following Wellstar Health System’s closure of both Atlanta Medical Center and East Point’s Atlanta Medical Center South in 2022.  

Plans for the $700-million-plus complex at 675 Metropolitan Parkway SW call for primary, urgent, and specialty care, to include a Level III trauma center and neonatal intensive care unit, with a goal of providing a place for healthcare ranging from “routine and preventive services to emergency and acute hospital care where it is needed most,” per a Friday announcement. Other sections call for medical offices and a “healthplex” with services such as endoscopy, infusion, imaging, and emergency care. 

Earlier filings have indicated the campus would span 40 acres, initially with a 50-bed “general teaching hospital” associated with Morehouse School of Medicine up the street, marking its first metro Atlanta facility. 

That hospital could be expanded to more than 700 beds over time as needs grow, acting as the “clinical anchor” of a much bigger network, per project officials. 

Other phases of development could see academic, research, office, retail, and even residential uses, project leaders have indicated.  

Dr. Valerie Montgomery Rice, president and CEO of Morehouse School of Medicine, called the partnership a milestone and “meaningful step” toward healthcare expansion where it’s needed. 

“In Atrium Health, we have found a partner that is among the national leaders not only in clinical and academic excellence, but in innovation and academic medicine,” Rice said in a prepared statement. “Most importantly, they are among the national leaders in serving vulnerable communities, and our missions could not be more aligned.”

Spanning 1.1 million square feet, The MET dates to the early 20th century, when it was built by Coca-Cola founder Asa Candler. Creative, industrial, storage, and other uses have come since. Its location is directly east of MARTA’s West End station (though connectivity isn’t direct) and a few blocks from 17 miles of completed mainline Atlanta Beltline. Atrium purchased the property in 2024.

The proposal is specifically designed to address a shortage of 246 primary healthcare providers identified in a recent 3D Health analysis; another study by Morehouse School of Medicine and Fulton County, alongside Ernst & Young, pinpointed the area as one where “residents face especially limited access to health services,” per the project announcement. 

Another independent analysis by HR&A Advisors estimates the project could spur roughly 5,400 construction jobs and 4,800 permanent roles when fully built, including roughly 150 healthcare providers and 1,000 new health system employees, with an economic impact in the ballpark of $1.25 billion annually. (Plans call for the City of Atlanta to invest more than $115 million; that would go toward roadway and pedestrian improvements, site prep, and equipment needed for the acute-care campus, per officials.) 

Project leaders cautioned that plans are still contingent on Fulton County reaching an agreement with Morehouse regarding support for an ambulatory network that would service South Fulton. The announcement also noted that “philanthropy and community support will be key drivers in bringing this crucial initiative to life.”

Next steps call for Morehouse and hospital officials to continue meeting with community organizations, elected officials, residents, healthcare providers and other partners as planning stages unfold. 

No outlook on groundbreaking has been specified. 

“When the Atlanta Medical Center closures were abruptly announced nearly four years ago, I said they left an open wound in the heart of our communities,” said Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens in the announcement. “Today, we have come full circle. Morehouse School of Medicine and Atrium Health will not only help heal that wound but expand primary and community-based care in neighborhoods where access is needed most.” 

“There are moments in healthcare when you have the opportunity to do more than build a hospital—you have the opportunity to change what is possible for a community for generations… This is one of those moments,” added Advocate Health CEO Eugene A. Woods. 

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