UrbanizeAtlNewsBot@yall.theatl.social

UrbanizeAtlNewsBot@yall.theatl.social

Glassy tower named for Arthur Blank declared finished over Peachtree Josh Green Wed, 08/28/2024 - 15:23 In Buckhead’s southern fringes near Midtown, Peachtree Road’s transition from low-rise commercial structures to a row of much larger buildings with medical purposes continues.

Shepherd Center officials send word the 16-story Arthur M. Blank Family Residences has officially finished construction at 1860 Peachtree Road, just south of Piedmont Hospital where two restaurant buildings once stood.

The 165-unit project—offering 65 two-bedroom and 100 one-bedroom options, all of them fully furnished, with necessities included—is part of a Shepherd Center growth spurt the Buckhead hospital says will allow more patients and their families to receive world-class care and accommodations. It more than doubles Shepherd Center’s current housing capacity.

The project replaced the former restaurant buildings long occupied by Uncle Julio’s and Ted’s Montana Grill, which were razed in 2022. It was named for Home Depot cofounder Blank following a $50-million capital grant from the Atlanta Falcons and United owner’s family foundation.

Shepherd Center reps tell Urbanize Atlanta their goal is to start allowing people to occupy the building in October.

The 16-story building’s Peachtree Street frontage today. Courtesy of Shepherd Center

The former Uncle Julio’s and Ted’s Montana Grill sites, at left, in the 1800 block of Peachtree as demolition proceeded in summer 2022. Google Maps

Amenities at the building will include a gym for patients and their family members, a library, meeting rooms, arcade games, a children’s corner, and a rec room with a pool table. A sundries shop will also operate on the first floor.

(Fun fact: The building’s garden area is now the permanent home of a bison statue that long stood at Ted’s Montana Grill’s portion of the property. The garden includes a grilling space and fountain wall today.)

The residential tower allows Shepherd Center to greatly expand its capacity for housing day-program patients and families whose relatives are grappling with spinal cord injury, brain injury, stroke, chronic pain, multiple sclerosis, and other neurological ailments, according to hospital officials. The goal is to ease the financial burden on families who would otherwise have to find lodging elsewhere in Atlanta.

More than half of patients currently come to the center for treatment from outside Georgia, per Shepherd Center officials.

The tower is positioned just south of Piedmont Hospital’s artfully curved, 16-story Marcus Heart and Vascular Center, and it’s part of a $350-million campaign to benefit Shepherd Center patients and families called “Pursuing Possible.”

Another prominent new building—the Shepherd Center’s Marcus Center for Advanced Rehabilitation—is under construction a couple of blocks north on Peachtree Road.

The project was built with the support of a $50 million grant from the Blank Family Foundation.Courtesy of Shepherd Center

Shepherd Center CEO Sarah Morrison, cofounders David Apple, M.D., and Alana Shepherd, and COO Jamie Shepherd help cut the ribbon to celebrate the tower’s opening. Courtesy of Shepherd Center

As is, the Shepherd Center provides care to about 900 inpatients and 7,100 outpatients per year. But space and availability constraints mean the facility can provide housing to families for only 30 days—about half the length of patients’ average stays.

For now, the center has 84 housing units on campus and 36 more nearby.

Find more images and context in the gallery above.

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