City of Hope plans to open the 190,000-square-foot Lennar Foundation Cancer Center in Irvine, Calif., next summer, local news station Spectrum News 1 reported Sept. 27.
The new center will eliminate the need for cancer patients in Orange County to travel for advanced care and clinical trial access. Currently, about 20 percent of county residents diagnosed with cancer leave the community for advanced cancer care and research, a City of Hope official told the news station.
"We had about 3,000 patients a year who were traveling to Duarte (Calif.) for services. That is a significant burden on cancer patients and their families," said Annette Walker, president of CIty of Hope Orange County. "Bringing the depth that Duarte has in cancer care and research and being able to put it on the ground in Orange County, it's going to be life changing for this community."
Construction of the facility is currently underway at the FivePoint Gateway community in Irvine.
City of Hope Orange County in March announced that it received a record-breaking $50 million gift to support the development of the $1 billion project from the Lennar Foundation.