Update: This story has been updated with clarified hospital bed numbers and a construction timeline.
A 60-bed expansion of the Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at Scottish Rite hospital on Pill Hill was approved as part of a rezoning request by Sandy Springs City Council on May 17.
The project will add a fifth floor to the existing Scottish Rite building along Meridian Mark Drive, officials previously said. Children’s previously got state approval to add 60 new beds–46 in-patient and 14 observation–and the project will allow that expansion. The City Council’s zoning approval included permitting the 46 in-patient beds.
Officials have said there is a strong need for more beds and that patients are now sometimes redirected to other hospitals. “We cannot have children in Sandy Springs being sent to adult hospitals,” said City Council member Tibby DeJulio prior to the approval vote.
Children’s Healthcare spokesperson Patty Gregory said that construction work is slated to start in June and continue into fall 2017.