The Atlanta Hawks will hold an official groundbreaking ceremony for its new state-of-the-art practice facility on June 24 in Brookhaven’s Executive Park, according to a team spokesperson.
The Hawks and Emory Healthcare have teamed up to construct a sports medicine and training center on Executive Park Drive and the facility will also serve as the team’s official practice site.
The “traditional groundbreaking” ceremony is expected to feature Coach Mike Budenholzer, CEO Steve Koonin and owner Tony Ressler.
The Emory/Hawks partnership is a $50 million deal for the land purchase and building construction with $14 million being covered by Emory University and the Hawks funding $36 million. Emory University will then provide a ground lease to the Hawks for the practice facility.
To secure the deal to have the Hawks and Emory locate the facility in Brookhaven, city officials agreed to offer the Hawks a $36 million tax abatement. That means when the building is completed, the Hawks will transfer ownership of the building to the Brookhaven Development Authority – and because the DA is a governmental agency, it is not required to pay taxes.
Emory University purchased 60 acres of Executive Park, along the North Druid Hills Road and I-85 interchange, and the training facility will be among the new developments. The 90,000-square-foot facility will combine the Hawks’ training facility and Operations Department with Emory sports medicine facilities. Emory will become the team’s official sports medicine provider and gets naming rights to the facility. Emory’s entire Sports Medicine Center will move to the Brookhaven site as well.