Ground breaks on new $65 million Ronald McDonald House near Children’s Healthcare

DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — Families who have a sick child will soon have a new place for healing and to get the help they need to get better.

The Ronald McDonald House of Atlanta is expanding with a brand-new facility that just broke ground on Wednesday in DeKalb County.

The spot off Briarcliff and North Druid Hills doesn’t look like much yet. But it will soon be home to a state-of-the-art, $65 million facility right next to the new Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta that is set to open next year.

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“This has been a dream for so long,” said Atlanta RMHC President and CEO Tracey Atwater.

The need is great for families traveling to Atlanta or families who just need to be in close proximity to the hospital.

“They can focus on their sick child because there’s a community of people focusing on what they need,” Atwater said.

Amy Eifrid and her 5-year-old daughter Chloe spent 12 weeks at the Ronald McDonald House.

“Atlanta traffic is terrible, so being able to be so close…took us like eight minutes to be able to get there every single day going back and forth for therapy,” Eifrid said.

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On the campus of Children’s Healthcare’s new North Druid Hills Hospital, the 98,000-square-foot house will include 60 guest rooms and 10 transplant suites in Phase One with 42 more rooms to come.

It will be built with input from Ronald McDonald families and include many amenities. The most requested: outside playgrounds and green space.

“I think it’s going to be amazing. They got a garden…I think they’re going to put a golf course in. I don’t know,” 8-year-old Saxon Guillory said.

Saxon, his twin Sawyer and their mother spent three months for Sawyer’s bone marrow transplant with Saxon as the donor.

“To know that families will be able to have the same assurance and care that they provided to my son, brings great joy to me and my family as well,” O’Shea Guillory said.

The hospital opens next fall and the first phase is set to open the following summer in 2025. The demand is so high that officials expect the rooms to be full once they open.

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