Northside Hospital Cherokee, along with partners Realty Trust Group and Healthpeak, broke ground Thursday morning for a six-story, 150,000-square-foot medical office building.
The facility will house a variety of outpatient health care services and physician practices, including heart, bariatrics and general surgery, orthopedics and sports medicine, a high-risk cancer program, ENT and primary care.
Billy Hayes, CEO of Northside Cherokee, said the ceremonial groundbreaking was a chance to note the hospital's sustained growth. He noted he joined Northside 21 years ago at its previous home, which was built in the early 1960s.
"It served its purpose, but what we saw when I came in '04 is that most people who live in Cherokee County (and points north) chose to go to Atlanta for health care," Hayes said. "I don't think we had the services that we needed to meet the needs of the community. I don't think we had the culture that we needed to understand and serve our community."
He said that's changed in a major way.
"The road was bumpy for a while. People started buying in, and we saw the community start trusting us," Hayes said. "We started getting great physicians. We have a wonderful medical staff. We had about 80 physicians on staff in 2004; we've got over 1,500 today.
"We had about 200 employees in 2004; we've got over 4,000 today."
Charlie Dickhaus, a senior vice president of Realty Trust Group and the director of real estate for Northside, said the building, which started on Thursday, is the largest medical office building the health care system has constructed in a decade.
Nearly 10 physician groups are part of the ownership of the building, Dickhaus said.
"In those eight groups, we had over 40 physicians that individually invested in the project, which I'm happy to say is the highest amount of individual physician participation that we've ever had in one of these projects, and we've done seven or eight of them in the last 10 years," he said. "I think that really speaks to the commitment that not only Northside has to Cherokee, but also the physicians and what they have in this community as well."
Dickhaus said 100% of the building is leased.
"I think that speaks to the growth that's happened here and the commitment that Northside has to the Cherokee County community," he said.
The building will include about 40,000 square feet for cardiac and pulmonary services and about 30,000 square feet for surgical specialists. Dickhaus said the first thing visitors will notice, other than the building's height, is how patient experience is central to the design.
Members of the community were on hand for the event, which marks the latest major investment by Northside in Cherokee County.
“It’s just so impressive to witness the growth,” Canton Mayor Bill Grant said. “I had to look back at my notes three times and double-check that it was just 2017 when you opened the new hospital, and iit seems like it’s been much longer — like it’s been here forever as such an important part of our community.”
Construction on the new medical office building is expected to be complete by spring 2027.
Learn more about the growth of Northside.
Pictured, from left: Sammy Stork, hospital mascot; District 2 Commissioner Richard Weatherby, Cherokee County; Brandy Jackson, CNO, Northside Hospital Cherokee; Carlos Washington, senior director of facilities management, Northside Hospital; Randy Hall, president and CEO, Batson-Cook Construction; Katie Pearson, COO, Northside Cherokee; Billy Hayes, CEO, Northside Cherokee; Mayor Bill Grant, City of Canton; Adam Bledsoe, director of finance, Northside Cherokee; Charlie Dickhaus, senior vice president and principal, Realty Trust Group; and Dave Domres, vice president of development, Healthpeak.
