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City Council to vote on zoning for new building, parking. Piedmont Faytte Hospital seeks more offices

Piedmont Fayette Hospital, which has been expand- ing almost every three or four years over the past few decades, is seeking to rezone land for its next big project.

The Fayetteville City Coun- cil will decide today whether to rezone about 25 acres near the hospital so the facility can build a five-story medical office building. The new structure would house Piedmont Fayette’s oncology ser- vices, and more than 450 parking spaces would be added for employees and visitors, spokesman Michael Boylan said.

If the rezoning is approved, work will begin this spring and finish in December 2020.

Piedmont Fayette joins a number of hospitals undergo- ing or seeking expansion in metro Atlanta. Grady Health System is seeking more than $230 million for an expansion that would include enlarging a center for HIV and AIDS treatment while Emory Healthcare is reportedly considering a $10 million expansion at its Johns Creek and St. Joseph hospi- tal campuses.

Piedmont Fayette’s proposed expansion is the latest development for the hospi- tal, which has set an aggres- sive growth schedule since the beginning of the new century. In 2003, the hospi- tal added a third floor and followed that with a Women’s Imaging Center in 2005.

In 2006, the hospital doubled in size with a $49 mil- lion expansion and in 2012 added a Wound Care and Hyperbaric Center.

“We focus on the safety and well-being of our patients, and their needs,” CEO Michael Burnett said in a statement. “We are grateful to be part of Fayette County and are proud of what we have added to strengthen the health and well-being of this area and its citizens.”

More recently the hospi- tal added 130,000-squarefeet in 2017 by adding four new patient floors and doubling the size of its emergency department.

It’s currently constructing a 60,000-square-foot wellness center at Pinewood Forest, a 235-acre mixed-used development across from Pinewood Studios, home of several Marvel Studios films. The Pinewood Wellness Center will open in November.