Completed in the Spring of 2019, the award-winning Anna Shaw Children’s Institute is a $25-Million, 54,000 square foot facility located on a wooded lot on the main hospital campus to enhance the “treehouse” theme of the architecture. Realty Trust Group (RTG) represented Hamilton Medical Center (“HMC”), a regional hospital in Dalton, Georgia, on the development of the new facility designed to diagnose and treat children with autism spectrum disorders, attention deficit and other complex developmental challenges. The new three-story facility is one of the first of its kind in the nation providing a variety of pediatric services, including clinics focused on behavioral and developmental health, a therapy clinic (physical, occupational, speech and feeding) and physical therapy and sensory integration gyms, as well as shell space for future growth or third-party sub-specialty clinics.
“One of the things we really loved about working with RTG is they not only had a passion about making sure our building was what it was supposed to be and we could meet all of our deadlines, but they had compassion for the children and the families we would serve.” — Terri Woodruff, Executive Director, Anna Shaw Children’s Institute
As owner representative, RTG was responsible for the master project budget and schedule as well as managing the design and construction of the new facility, which features an iconic and themed architecture that presented significant budget challenges. Through RTG’s value engineering effort, which produced nearly $3-Million in viable savings opportunities, HMC was able to optimize their facility for the cost. In addition, the collaborative project team we assembled and coordinated to manage major project decisions, vendor selections and agreement negotiations, and conflict resolution was able to achieve a certificate of occupancy three weeks prior to HMC’s aggressive requested completion date and won the Award of Merit in 2019 from Healthcare Design Magazine.