Founded in 1988, the AIDS Research Consortium of Atlanta is one of Atlanta’s oldest continuously operating HIV/AIDS service organizations.

The agency learned in mid-September it would be forced from its home on Ponce de Leon Avenue after its building was purchased by a real estate developer who planned to build new residential properties.

The move to ARCA’s new location at 440 Ralph McGill Blvd. has been challenging, Dr. Melanie Thompson, ARCA executive director, told GA Voice.

“We were given about eight weeks, but it took us a long time to find a place where we wanted to live, given all the different constraints,” Thompson said. “We had been in our old place 22 years. You can imagine how much stuff accumulates over 22 years.”

In addition to the lab and research equipment, ARCA also had to find a new place to store more than 15 years of records as required by the Food & Drug Administration.

A fundraising drive called Operation Move ARCA was set up to help the service organization fund the move to its new home.

So far, ARCA has raised about half of its goal of $10,000, Thompson said. The fundraising effort will continue through the next few months to help bridge that gap. ARCA is currently accepting donations through its Facebook page.

Thompson said ARCA would be up and running on Monday, Nov. 12.

“We’re going to be really happy here,” Thompson said. “We’ll be starting three new studies within the next couple of weeks and that will be exciting.”

Top photo: Dr. Melanie Thompson, executive director AIDS Research Consortium of Atlanta (file)