Renderings: Emory, Falcons break ground on healthcare, sports research facilities

A unique new healthcare facility is under construction, aiming to be the go-to spot for Atlanta Falcons to get their bumps and bruises checked out, in Flowery Branch near Lake Lanier.

On Monday, Emory Healthcare and the Atlanta Falcons broke ground on the musculoskeletal and sports medicine clinic, according to an Emory University news release.

The roughly 29,000-square-foot facility, called the Emory Othopaedics & Spine Center, is slated to stand alongside the football team’s training facility, the newly renamed IBM Performance Field.

Emory Healthcare became the Falcons’s official healthcare provider last year, and this development would offer a new location for Emory patients, as well as pro athletes in need of diagnostic imaging or a check-up by a sports medicine expert.

(Imagine being stuck in the waiting room with Matt Ryan and Julio Jones.)

In addition to the medical center, the project site is seeing the construction of the Emory Sports Performance and Research Center, where scientists will research injury prevention and recovery methods, “particularly in high school and younger athletes,” per officials.

Construction of the facilities is scheduled to take between 14 and 16 months, and they’re expected to open next fall.