Earlier today, the Atlanta Hawks Basketball Club and Emory Healthcare broke ground on the Emory Sports Medicine Complex located on Executive Park Drive and the newly-minted Hawks Lane. The 90,000-square-foot complex will be the first of its kind, integrating four state-of-the-art facilities on its five-acre campus:

• Emory Healthcare Courts –Emory Healthcare Courts will serve as the official practice and training facility for the Atlanta Hawks. With an emphasis on player development, peak performance and comprehensive player care, it will feature two full-length basketball courts with direct access to expanded athletic performance training areas, a film room, and a fully-dedicated recovery area including cryotherapy, sensory deprivation tanks and in-ground hydrotherapy. The Hawks Basketball Operations Team will be housed in the facility full-time.

“As we reach the one-year mark this week since our ownership group bought the Atlanta Hawks, we are thrilled to be breaking ground on this truly impressive, state-of-the-art practice facility, training center and sports medicine complex with our world-class partners at Emory,” Principal Owner Tony Ressler said. “Emory Healthcare Courts will accomplish one of our top priorities of improving facilities that are integral in developing a winning team, attracting and retaining top player talent, and being a top basketball franchise. In partnering with Emory Healthcare, we are proud to support a local institution that will be responsible for providing among the most advanced sports medicine care to both our players and the greater Atlanta community.”

• Emory Sports Medicine Center and Emory Physical Therapy – Emory’s entire sports-medicine division will be moved within this facility, giving the Hawks immediate access to Emory’s world-class physicians. The most  advanced technology in preventative and rehabilitative treatment and sports performance training including a 3 Tesla MRI scanner, diagnostic imaging technology, recovery technology, 3-D motion capture analysis, and blood/sweat testing and analysis will all be on-site. Emory doctors will see their patients at the facility and in conjunction with the Hawks, they will host events to engage the local community.

"This partnership demonstrates the visionary fortitude by both organizations to create an unprecedented level of medical integration using an innovative approach to providing quality and cutting edge medical care, diagnostics rehabilitation, training, and performance improvement,” says Scott D. Boden, MD, director of the Emory Orthopaedics & Spine Center. “This facility will serve as a regional sports medicine resource that is available to all of our athletes, including professional, Olympic, collegiate, and the weekend warrior, while promoting fitness, good nutrition, and injury prevention through science and research.”

• Peak Performance Project – Commonly referred to as P3, Peak Performance Project is a world-leader in applied sports science based in Santa Barbara. The Atlanta branch will be P3’s first location outside of Santa Barbara and will serve as its East Coast headquarters. P3 services elite-level athletes from around the world, integrating sports science to assess athlete movement and performance and prescribe individualized optimization plans.

The privately-funded complex is being designed by HOK, the largest U.S.-based architecture-engineering firm and second-largest interior design firm. Atlanta-based construction and management firm H.J. Russell & Company, in association with Legends Project Development, are serving as the project management team for the project and Brasfield & Gorrie General Contractors was recently selected to serve as construction manager.

The Emory Sports Medicine Complex is scheduled to be completed and open doors prior to the 2017-18 season. The Hawks will provide additional details about the practice and training facility, including additional renderings and design plans, at a later date. For more information, visit www.Hawks.com/trainingfacility.