The Atlanta Medical Center is officially coming down.
On June 30, Wellstar Health System and Integral Group kicked off exterior demolition of the long-standing hospital with a “symbolic” teardown of the Parkway Drive NE entrance.
At the end of a public ceremony the crowd waved flags to kick off the work of an excavator and breaker. The massive equipment started hammering away at a portico of one of the shuttered center’s main entrances.
It’s the first phase in a planned overhaul of the 22-acre property. Officials involved in the project said that by the first quarter of 2026, people will be able to stand on Boulevard and see a flattened campus.
“This is about re-knitting a part of the city of Atlanta, stitching back a community that was sort of severed from both disinvestment and the freeways,” Integral Group’s Egbert Perry said.
The project, titled BLVD Next will take a phased approach to overhauling the massive campus. Atlanta Demolition and FERMA will head up the interior and exterior demolition of the asbestos-ridden historic buildings throughout “Phase One.”
By 2027, the buildings will be gone and a greenspace will be left behind. Developers said it will restore the view of the Atlanta city skyline from Boulevard. From there, later phases will turn the land into a mixed-use district with housing, retail and “healthcare resources.”
It’s a big change for the community. When the long-standing Level One Trauma Center closed its doors suddenly in 2022, community members were sent reeling. Nurses were forced to relocate and patients lost access to one of the few hospitals in the area.
Some former AMC nurses attended the June 30 event in “RIP AMC” shirts and nurse-oriented gear. Liz Bentley, who worked on the campus for 36 years said she found out about the demolition through a Facebook group.
Bentley started at AMC as a nursing student when she was 18 years old. She worked at the hospital until it closed suddenly in 2022 while she was on vacation. She compared the experience to “being evicted.” At the demolition, Bentley was upset and teary eyed.
“Its like my home is being torn down,” Bentley said.
There’s also been concern around the demolition of the historic 1920s Georgia Baptist Hospital building, and a push to preserve the exterior. Developers plan to preserve part of the facade of the original building.
But others are looking ahead. It’s a huge piece of undeveloped land in a central part of Atlanta. The developers want high density retail, housing and healthcare to help transform a block that’s littered with blight and disinvestment.
“It’s going to be transformative, absolutely,” Atlanta District 5 City Councilmember Liliana Bakhtiari said.
The campus is in Bakhtiari’s district. She said it was “imperative” that Southwest Atlanta and nearby community members would be involved in such a vital piece of land.
Developers said they have involved the community in early planning stages, and will continue to do so throughout the process.
But some details are already decided: the eventual planned housing won’t all be designated affordable, though there will be workforce units. Nearby residents who are looking to “downsize” will be given opportunities to do so. There will be market-rate and luxury units.
The phased approach is dependent on the market – and whoever Wellstar sells the land to once it’s ready to develop.
“We are committed to revitalizing the community with empathy and foresight,” Perry said.
Wellstar will stay on board to oversee any healthcare facilities that will be added to the future mixed-use development, but the scope of the services is undetermined. Construction on the project will run through 2034 as part of Phase Two and Phase Three.
“This today is the beginning of the beginning, and let us all stay committed to make sure that we can contribute to it,” Atlanta City Council President Doug Shipman said. “We can make a place that is worthy of the neighborhood in which it resides.”
See SaportaReport’s exclusive photos inside the demolished hospital buildings here.
Read Maria Saporta’s column about the need to preserve the historic 1920s building here.
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