The doors will be open at Piedmont Hospital’s newly built Marcus Tower on April 13, nearly four months early, in an effort to offset Coronavirus COVID-19’s impact on our local community. A total of 132 beds with 64 designated as ICU beds will be used for both COVID-19 positive and non-COVID-19 patients in the coming weeks.
Development of the Marcus Tower has been in the works since it was announced in late 2016 and construction began in early 2017. The sleek new building that curves gracefully around a bend on Peachtree Road is set to become a 16-story top-of-the-line medical facility with up to 408 beds, inpatient and outpatient operating rooms, and the Piedmont Heart Institute which is one of only two heart transplant facilities in the state.
The decision to open three ICU and acute nursing units spread over the building’s sixth, seventh, and eighth floors was made possible by a generous donation of $1 million by Jeff Seaman, the Rooms to Go CEO, President, and Founder to the Piedmont Healthcare Foundation COVID-19 Infrastructure Fund.
“We are incredibly fortunate to have generous donors like Jeff Seaman at this critical time,” said Piedmont Healthcare Chief Philanthropy Officer Sid Kirschner. “We are working very hard to take care of our patients in the new reality of a world left vulnerable by the COVID-19 pandemic. Gifts like Jeff’s to our COVID-19 Infrastructure Fund will literally save lives.”
Originally set to open on August 1, the Marcus Tower construction is funded by a $75 million donation from The Marcus Foundation, and the tower also will feature the Samsky Invasive Cardiovascular Services Center thanks to a $11 million pledge from Brett, Louise, and Connor Samsky. The project management team has worked in partnership with Brasfield & Gorrie, CBRE and HKS to prepare this portion of the facility early, manufacturers have expedited their products, and crews have worked overtime in order to meet this new advanced deadline.
We are grateful for Piedmont’s efforts to meet the unprecedented need for ICU care in Buckhead, and it is thanks to partnerships with local companies and the generous donation from Rooms to Go that we as a community will be able to meet the COVID-19 threat with direct action.
The spirit of Buckhead heads forward. This is the way it has been, and perhaps this is the way it will always be. The spirit of Buckhead points forward. You see it in the way we work, and you see it in the way we play. The reach is always extending further. The search is for excellence and beauty and grace and vibrancy.
We are a community of individuals. We are diverse, we are dynamic, and we are discerning. We are builders. We are connected to one another with a common bond. A common dream. A common quest. Pointing life in one direction. Forward.
