A groundbreaking ceremony was held Monday, June 30, for the redevelopment of the Atlanta Medical Center site in Old Fourth Ward.
The property has been dormant since Wellstar abruptly closed the hospital in 2022. The City of Atlanta imposed a development moratorium on the property before signing off on a plan with development firm Integral.
The 22-acre site is now destined to become a mixed-use development dubbed Boulevard NEXT (or BLVDNEXT) with residential, retail, and offices with “health and wellness resources” guided by Wellstar.
Wellstar attributed the closure of the 120-year-old medical center – originally known as Georgia Baptist Hospital – to major financial losses. The announcement shocked Atlanta leaders and left the region with Grady Memorial Hospital as the only Level 1 trauma center.
During Monday’s groundbreaking, demolition began on one of the main medical buildings on the property.
Despite pleas from local preservationists, there is no plan to keep the original 1920s-era Georgia Baptist Hospital building that sits surrounded by the 1950s and later campus expansion. However, Integral said it plans to preserve part of the facade.
“Atlanta has a remarkable catalog of 20th-century buildings that will now appear will be threatened due to the lack of protections and governed by local recognition,” Atlanta Preservation Center Executive Director David Y. Mitchell said. “The slow destruction of Georgia Baptist should be a sobering reminder to not only do better, but to advocate for Atlanta’s built and cultural resources before they are gone.”
Integral also unveiled its first public art installation at the site in partnership with arts collective and cultural strategy studio NEXT. Atlanta artist Tracy Murell’s large-scale work now wraps the construction site, featuring silhouettes that “illustrate the beauty and grace of Black womanhood.”
