The first-of-its-kind facility combines the Hawks’ dedicated practice space with a high-performance training facility and a public sports-medicine center managed by Emory Healthcare.
“This is a great moment for the Atlanta Hawks, for Emory Healthcare, and we expect for all of Atlanta. This best-in-class facility will help us attract, retain and keep healthy the greatest athletes in the world,” said Tony Ressler, principal owner and chair of the board of the Atlanta Hawks, at the Nov. 28 ribbon-cutting. “I’m so proud of this facility, a facility that will benefit our team and community for many years to come.”
The project includes the most advanced technology in sports medicine and athlete care, including a high-performance training facility operated by the Peak Performance Project (P3).
HOK’s Sports + Recreation + Entertainment and Healthcare practices collaborated on the design of the complex, finding synergies between training facility and sports-medicine design. The residential-inspired design celebrates transparency and adjacencies between the programmatic components of the facility while prioritizing the recovery of professional athletes.
The 90,000-square-foot complex integrates four state-of-the-art facilities on its five-acre campus:
- Emory Healthcare Courts – Emory Healthcare Courts serves as the official practice and training facility for the Atlanta Hawks. With an emphasis on player development, peak performance and comprehensive player care, it features 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 is housed in the facility full-time.
- Emory Sports Medicine Center and Emory Physical Therapy – Emory’s entire sports-medicine division operates 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 the 3 Tesla MRI scanner, diagnostic imaging technology, recovery technology, 3-D motion capture analysis, and blood/sweat testing and analysis are all on-site. Emory doctors can see their patients at the facility, and, in conjunction with the Hawks, they will host events to engage the local community.
- Peak Performance Project – Peak Performance Project (P3) is a world-leader in applied sports science based in Santa Barbara, California. The Atlanta branch is P3’s first location outside of Santa Barbara and serves 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.
Atlanta-based construction and management firm H.J. Russell & Company, in association with Legends Project Development, served as the project management team for the project and Brasfield & Gorrie General Contractors was construction manager.