Georgia Mental Health Institute

History

Emory and the state of Georgia jointly developed the GMHI. Emory doctors provided some of the mental health services at GMHI, and some residents and fellows received part of their training in psychiatry there. Emory also had its own pediatric psychiatric outpatient programs based at the facility. The university also had 10 faculty scientists conducting 18 research studies at GMHI, focused on mental health, brain and central nervous system diseases. At its closing it had 141 beds and a $24.5 million budget. Due to rising costs, the Georgia Department of Human Resources proposed that the hospital close. They decided that they could send GMHI patients to other hospitals nearby and use the $24.5 million budget in other community mental health services.

After the institute closed, the 42-acre campus was purchased by Emory University from the state of Georgia for $2.9 million. The university planned to turn the property into a biotechnology research and business development center. Unofficially the campus was referred to as "Emory West", and the university considered either renovating the existing 17 buildings or constructing new ones. Plans for the second campus were scaled back after faculty expressed a desire to remain at the main campus, but the university still planned to build the EmTech Bio Sciences Center as of 2000.

In 2022, Emory University leased the property for 99 years to a private developer, Galerie Living who plans to build on the property a senior living community. Due to that, all former hospital buildings on the campus will be demolished.

In popular culture

The Netflix series Stranger Things used the Georgia Mental Health Institute as a filming location for the in-universe location "Hawkins National Laboratory".

The building was also used as a filming location in the 2017 film Rings.

The Institute also appears in Alex Garland's Civil War, where it is the scene of a fight between militiamen and loyalists.

The building appears briefly as an exterior shot of a hospital in the 2024 film Elevation.

DC's Doom Patrol takes place at "The Briarcliff" (mansion) next door and they briefly show the façade and shoot in front of it for a few scenes.

The Vampire Diaries was also filmed here.

The building was also used as the sole filming location in Evan Scolnick's Background Action, where an anxious superhero movie production assistant must overcome trouble working with eccentric background actors..

References

References

1. (July 1998). "Indiana Business Review update". Indiana Business Review.
2. Wrobel, Sylvia. (November 10, 1997). "Emory considering possibilities if state closes mental health institute".
3. (1 November 1998). "Johns ahead of schedule in realizing promise to 'transform Emory'". Georgia Trend.
4. "Timetable modified for Emory West campus". Emory University.
5. Rodney Ho. (September 10, 2022). "Atlanta building that was Hawkins lab in 'Stranger Things' will be torn down".
6. . (July 28, 2016). ["Georgia Locations for Netflix's 'Stranger Things'"](http://deepsouthmag.com/2016/07/28/georgia-locations-for-netflixs-stranger-things/). *Deep South Media*.
7. (November 12, 2024). "Briarcliff Mansion lives again".