Construction activities are in full swing at three separate sites in northeast Georgia where the state has embarked on three massive, multi-year hospital projects to serve the rapidly growing population.
The long-awaited projects are being built near the city of Dahlonega in Lumpkin County, in the town of Braselton, and in the city of Gainesville. All three communities are just over an hour’s drive from Atlanta.
Together, the projects are worth more than $1 billion and will be economic generators for the region as they will provide plenty of work for construction trades, employ thousands of health care workers as well as provide improved emergency services, operation rooms and more patient beds and care areas.
The Northeast Georgia Health System (NGHS) has had its sights set on the projects for years, but work was delayed by COVID. However, shovels are now in the ground on all three projects.
A $565-million, four-year expansion project has started at the hospital in Braselton that will result in 235,000 square feet of new clinical space and two new patient care floors with space for 150 beds.
A second helipad, 20 new emergency department treatment rooms and 200 additional parking spaces are also on tap, as well as a pharmacy, lab and kitchen, while plans are in the works to add more operating rooms.
“We began planning for the Braselton campus almost 20 years ago, working with community leaders who shared our vision for what this hospital could become,” says Anthony Williamson, president of Northeast Georgia Medical Center Braselton. “This expansion is not only a reflection of the growth of the Braselton area, but also of our original plan to continue to add timely, comprehensive, much needed health-related services for the community.”
The new patient floors are expected to be completed in summer 2025, with work on the emergency department wrapping up in 2026.
Turner Construction of Atlanta is doing the work. The company built the original hospital which opened with 100 beds in 2015.
In Gainesville, construction is underway on a $700-million, 927,000-square-foot, multi-storey tower that will be located next to the existing North Patient Tower at the campus on Spring Street NE. The 557-bed facility in Gainesville is the flagship hospital of the NGHS since opening its doors in 1951.
The new tower, expected to open in early 2020, will make the hospital the third largest in the state by bed size. The emergency department will be moved into the new tower when completed. A helipad will be built on the roof. More operating rooms and beds will also be added along with a parking deck.
NGHS has committed to using local labour as much as possible – with as many as 2,000 workers expected to be onsite at any given time.
Carol Burrell, president and CEO of the NGHS, says the needs of the community have been factored into every decision made on the expansion project.
“As you can imagine, COVID drastically changed the way we think about delivering care to our patients and has allowed us to apply lessons we have learned to the new tower design.”
For example, during the pandemic, patient rooms were converted into negative-pressure rooms to prevent the spread of viruses. But ventilation systems that had to be installed were loud and made the rooms hot. Rooms in the tower will be designed so they can more easily be converted to negative pressure.
In Lumpkin County, construction workers have started work on a new hospital on a 54-acre site along State Route 400, just south of the intersection with Highway 60. It has been in the planning stages since 2019 but was derailed by COVID. The 66,000-square-foot building will open in 2024.
The hospital is being built at the highest elevation on the site which will make it visible from State Route 400. The architects have incorporated a lot of the natural area into the design. The facility will include 16 inpatient rooms, 10 emergency rooms, three operating rooms and more. The structure will also include facilities to support imaging, a lab, pharmacy services and dining area.
NGHS purchased the property for the hospital in 2015. Plans were unveiled in January 2020 and sights were immediately set on how to move the current hospital to the future campus and grow its services. Now, the plan is for the hospital to open in April 2024.
Burrell of the NGHS says it was unfortunate that COVID derailed the project.
“If things had gone according to the original plan, we’d be opening this year,” she says. “We appreciate the community’s patience, understanding and support and we look forward to the future NGMC Lumpkin opening in 2024.”
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