City council votes unanimously for $800M Atlanta medical center
New Atlanta hospital requires $800M
The Atlanta City Council unanimously approved a resolution seeking alternative hospital funding to address the local healthcare desert.
ATLANTA - The Atlanta City Council is moving aggressively to build a new hospital on the city's southside after passing a unanimous resolution to secure the final piece of an $800 million funding puzzle.
Atlanta healthcare expansion
What we know:
A healthcare crisis began gripping the Southside when Atlanta Medical Center shut its doors in 2022, following the closure of Atlanta Medical Center South in East Point that same year. City officials are trying to fill this gap through a massive $800 million medical center project. This week, the effort gained momentum when council members voted unanimously on a resolution asking Fulton County to contribute funding.
Atrium Health and the Morehouse School of Medicine are partnering on the investment. Atrium Health has already spent $70 million to buy 40 acres of land on Metropolitan Parkway in southwest Atlanta where the facility will stand. The city has committed $100 million using tax allocation districts, leaving Fulton County as the final outstanding partner. Fulton County officials are being asked to provide $20 million annually over the next 10 years, which could be added to an existing hospital bond for Union City.
Fulton County funding
What we don't know:
Officials have not yet confirmed whether the Fulton County Commission or its chairman will formally approve the requested $20 million annual funding commitment. It remains unclear when construction on Metropolitan Parkway will officially begin or when the new facility will open to the public.
Southside medical history
The backstory:
The medical landscape south of Interstate 20 was devastated four years ago by back-to-back hospital closures. The loss of both the primary Atlanta Medical Center and its East Point sister location left thousands of residents living in an expanding healthcare desert.
The Source: The information in this story was gathered from a local broadcast script and an on-scene digital package interview with an Atlanta councilman.