Wellstar Kennestone Tower on Track for Spring 2026 Open

The new tower being built at Wellstar Kennestone Hospital in Marietta is on track to welcome its first patients in April 2026, Wellstar Health System spokesperson Lauren Rigau confirmed.

The $263 million project was first announced in 2021. The MDJ reported in March that the nine-floor, 147-foot tower will have five floors of patient care, as well as a new kitchen, cafeteria and interfaith chapel.

Construction crews topped out concrete for the tower in July, and are slated to start rooftop air conditioning units by the end of August, per Rigau.

She added that exterior wall panels have been installed to level nine and that the NICU (neonatal intensive care unit) elevators have been started.

Callie Andrews, senior vice president at Wellstar and COO of Kennestone and Windy Hill hospitals, previously told the MDJ that the incoming NICU is a testament to the hospital’s growing labor and delivery population.

“It will be an absolutely state-of-the-art NICU,” Andrews said, with intentional design to ensure patient safety, including opportunities for mothers to stay with their babies. “It’s a very innovative model that we’ll be the first in this area to offer.”

With the new tower, Kennestone will grow its cardiac ICU and cardiac unit, and have full floors dedicated to neurology and surgery, respectively. The five patient care floors will include 159 rooms equipped to handle the broadest range of medical needs possible, per the MDJ’s March report.

Eric Hellman, the superintendent with JE Dunn Construction managing the project, recently told the MDJ his staff is working to ensure construction doesn’t disrupt traffic or patients in the rest of the hospital.

“I think the people who are in healthcare construction are here for a reason,” he said. “This is what we love to do. The impact you make on the community when you leave is just amazing, the lives you get to touch and know that you’re making their job easier and better and they can help people, it’s just ... I’ll do other construction if you force me, but this is where I want to be.”