Cancer Society plans $25m residence

The American Cancer Society plans to build a $25 million residence in Jamaica Plain where out-of-town cancer patients who are being treated at the city's top hospitals can stay for free.

When the residence opens in the spring of 2008, Cancer Society executives said, it will provide lodging to patients staying in Boston for treatment such as chemotherapy and radiation, which is increasingly being given over longer periods but without overnight hospital stays.

Boston now has 59 "hospitality beds" for cancer patients from out of town, according to a Cancer Society survey, including the Neely House at Tufts-New England Medical Center. The new residence will add another 40 beds in private suites. Patients of any income level will be able to stay there.

AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals, which the building will be named after, donated $7 million to the project, the largest gift for a single project in the American Cancer Society's 93-year history, society executives said. The drug company is a leading maker of oncology drugs and has a large Massachusetts presence, with a research facility in Waltham and a production plant in Westborough.

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute gave $2.5 million toward the residence, while Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women's Hospital each contributed $2 million.

The AstraZeneca Hope Lodge Center will be built at 125 South Huntington Ave. at the site of the former Vincent Memorial Hospital, which is a short drive to the Longwood Medical Area.

Dana-Farber chief operating officer Janet Porter said the new residence is sorely needed. The number of out-of-state patients having multiple outpatient treatments increased to 1,198 in fiscal 2006, up from 876 patients two years earlier. Dana-Farber does not have its own residence for patients; some stay with relatives or, if they live in New England, drive to Dana-Farber and back home each day. Others rent hotel rooms.

"With cancer, even middle-class people find their assets easily get stripped," Porter said. "It helps if they don't have to pay to stay in a hotel."

The 50,000-square-foot residence will include shared kitchen and dining facilities, a library and entertainment room, a contemplative garden, and a Quality of Life Center offering support and counseling services and transportation for guests.

Cancer Society executives said they need to raise another $5 million for the project.

The organization has opened 23 Hope Lodges in the United States over 20 years, including one in Worcester.