The building on Buford Highway that once housed a longtime Brookhaven dive bar was demolished on Aug. 1 to prepare for the expansion of a mental health treatment facility.
Bulldozers leveled The Rusty Nail building last Thursday after the bar and restaraurant shuttered last September after nearly 50 years. Skyland Trail, a nonprofit mental health treatment organization for adults and teens, will be expanding on the property.
Skyland Trail purchased the .64-acre lot on the corner of Buford Highway and North Druid Hills Road in 2023, and the 1.78 acre former hotel property located at 1975 North Druid Hills Road in April. Both properties are contiguous to Skyland Trail’s existing main adult campus.
Funding for the land acquisition was made available by an anonymous donor.
Skyland Trail said in a press release that the campus expansion effort will be a gradual process over several years. The organization’s goals for the expansion will be to geographically consolidate and grow services, improve efficiency, and create an environment that reflects the organization’s whole person approach to wellness.
Construction plans will meet objectives identified in the organization’s recent strategic plan focused on expanding services and meeting psychiatric treatment needs in Georgia.
Skyland Trail began residential mental health treatment services for adults in 1989 and expanded to offer residential treatment for adolescents ages 14 to 17 in 2019. The nonprofit has five campuses across Brookhaven, Decatur, and Chamblee.
