The largest healthcare project in Georgia history, to paraphrase the Falcons’ slogan, has risen up over several busy traffic corridors in north Atlanta, now visible for miles across parts of Buckhead, Brookhaven, and North Druid Hills.
After breaking ground in February 2020, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta’s $1.5 billion Arthur M. Blank Hospital continues to take shape across 70 acres next to Interstate 85 and North Druid Hills Road.
The hospital held a topping out ceremony in late May to recognize more than 1,500 construction workers involved with the 1.5-million-square-foot project, and this week, officials provided Urbanize Atlanta with images to show how work has progressed since.
Beyond two patient towers, expect an outpatient clinic, support center, and miles of walking trails snaking through 20 acres of therapeutic greenspace and gardens. Project leaders say the goal is to meet a growing need for advanced pediatric care in Georgia.
Recent drone imagery of the $1.5-billion Arthur M. Blank Hospital project, which began construction in February 2020. Courtesy of Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta
Arthur M. Blank Hospital—designed to maximize views of nature, which research shows helps kids mend—will feature one tower with two patient wings and additional operating rooms, specialty beds, diagnostic equipment, and space for clinical research.
Blank, owner of the Atlanta Falcons and MLS club Atlanta United, donated $200 million from his family foundation to the hospital in 2020, earning his name on various facets of the building. It marked the largest donation in Children's history and the biggest naming gift ever to a freestanding pediatric healthcare facility, per hospital officials. (The broader hospital project’s price tag even rivals Blank’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium—the most expensive building in city history.)
The hospital complex replaces the 19-story, vacant Executive Park Motor Hotel, a retro landmark that was imploded beside the interstate in 2014.
The gallery above lends a closer look at where the project stands today—and where it’s headed for kids who need it. The full complex is scheduled to open in 2025, offering 116 more patient beds than what’s currently offered at Children’s Egleston Hospital at Emory University.
[CLARIFICATION: July 29: To clarify, the hospital's support center and Center for Advance Pediatrics are already complete, and the aforementioned 70 acres is the size of the full campus, not just the hospital. Also, the Arthur M. Blank tower stands 19 stories now and in excess of 200 feet, project officials note.]
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