Heavy grading has started on Northeast Georgia Health System’s next big medical building in South Hall.

Workers are leveling a huge plot of land behind Medical Plaza 1 to make room for Medical Plaza 2, a three-story, 90,000-square-foot building housing a new surgery center and doctor’s offices.

Medical Plaza 1 is off Friendship Road/Ga. 347 and sits between The Village at Deaton Creek active-adult community and Northeast Georgia Medical Center Braselton. Medical Plaza 2 will be off River Place, which runs between Ga. 347 and the hospital.

“We’re happy to get (the project) going, and hope the weather continues to be great and supply chain issues don’t slow us down,” said NGMC Braselton president Anthony Williamson, giving The Times a tour of the construction site on Friday, April 29.

The goal is for Medical Plaza 2 to open in May or June 2023.

“Construction timelines have been a little harder to predict accurately based on where we are with supply chains,” Williamson said. “Just getting everything that we typically need has become more challenging.”

The building has a $52 million budget but may end up “north of that” depending on costs, which are going up, Williamson said.