After two years, the first part of a $1 billion health care project in Brookhaven is finished and open.

The city and Emory University held a ribbon-cutting last Thursday to christen the Emory Musculoskeletal Institute, an 180,000-square foot building. City officials and the university are in the process of transforming Emory’s Executive Park, located near I-85 and North Druid Hills Road, into a sprawling medical complex.

Employees at the new six-story building will primarily focus on bone and muscle research and treatment. The facility’s services include non-operative and surgical treatment in orthopedics and spine care, physical therapy and rehabilitation, imaging and ambulatory and outpatient surgery in addition to clinical and discovery research.

“The Emory Musculoskeletal Institute is a state-of-the-art facility ready to serve Georgians with exceptional clinical care, forward-thinking research and profound training opportunities for the next generation of clinicians,” Emory University President Gregory L. Fenves said in a news release.

Emory eventually hopes to develop a 60-acre medical complex, which could include a 140-bed hospital, a hotel, offices, more research buildings, green space and miles of walking trails and paths. The entire development, announced in 2019, could be gradually built over the course of 15 years.