Hospice backers agree to buy site on Norwell-Hanover line

The Hanover-based group last week reached an oral agreement to buy property, a move that enables the group to step up its campaign to raise as much as $10 million to open the facility and keep it running.

Until now, said Kathy King Tedeschi, the group’s treasurer, fund-raising has been handicapped because there was no site for the home.

“We’ve been raising money, but certainly not what we’ve needed,’’ said Tedeschi. “We all felt that in order to raise serious money, we had to have a specific location, and not just a vision.’’

Now the group is negotiating the details for a purchase-and-sale agreement for a 2-acre parcel that is mostly in Norwell, but includes a small area in Hanover. The group’s president, Ralph E. Tedeschi, declined to identify the seller or the exact location, but said it borders Jacobs Pond and includes an old house and barn.

“One of the reasons we picked this location is that it’s overlooking the pond, and we wanted someplace that was going to be very picturesque,’’ said Kathy Tedeschi. “Our dream was to find a location with 20 acres, so we could have walking trails and a lot of other things, but that was before we started knocking on doors and people laughed at us.’’

She said it will take about $5 million to buy the property, renovate the house to meet state and federal standards for hospice care, and build an addition. Plans call for 12 private rooms, as well as facilities to educate people about hospice care before they need it.

The group also will need $3 million to $5 million to establish a foundation to keep the hospice running.

The permitting and zoning process will probably take six months, Ralph Tedeschi estimated, and the opening of the home is at least two years away. Once the facility is open, Campus of Caring will turn it over to a licensed hospice provider.

But before that happens, there is a lot of money to be raised.

“In the next few weeks, hopefully we’ll have the P & S signed,’’ said Ralph Tedeschi, “and at that point, we’ll approach foundations and start full-fledged fund-raising.’’

In the short term, the group has teamed up with the Norwell Visiting Nurse Association and Hospice for a fund-raiser tied to the opening of the Atlantic Symphony Orchestra’s season on Saturday.

There will be a wine tasting, sponsored by the Boston Winery at the North Hill Country Club, 47 Merry St. in Duxbury, at 5 p.m. That will be followed by an art exhibit and concert at the Duxbury Performing Arts Center. The exhibit consists of local artists’ works illustrating sections of Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition,’’ the featured musical composition for the evening.

Tickets are $75 for the wine tasting and concert, or $50 for concert only. Further information is available at 781-659-2342, or by visiting www.nvna.org.

Dean Inouye can be reached at inouye@globe.com.