Norwich — With 12 patient rooms, a dining room, living room, chapel, counseling areas, children’s playroom and courtyard garden, the Hospice House planned by the Center for Hospice Care of Southeast Connecticut will fill an unmet need in the region.

“It’s for patients who are too sick to die at home, who need 24/7 hospice and palliative care,” said Christie Williams, vice president for philanthropy for the nonprofit organization.

On Thursday, hospice officials joined local leaders in the first public announcement of the project, scheduled to be built adjacent to its office at 227 Dunham St. off Route 82.

Through a “silent” fundraising campaign, the organization already has raised $5.5 million toward the $7.5 million needed for construction and start-up costs, said Nathan Beit, a member of the steering committee for the project and former president of the hospice board.

“Those who need it will have a first-class facility in a beautiful setting, right over there,” said Beit, gesturing toward a grassy lot on the same 7.5-acre property as the building that houses the center’s offices and program spaces.

The lot was marked with a “Future Home of Hospice House” banner and signs indicating different parts of the planned building, outlined in chalk on the grass.

“It’s going to look like a house, and feel like a home, yet it’s going to surround patients with the care they need and enable families to be comfortable,” Beit said.

Currently, patients in need of the kind of care that the Hospice House will provide must travel to Branford or Danbury, Williams said.

"We're really central to the region," he said.

Construction is slated to begin in the spring of 2017 and opening is planned for the end of that year.

Mayor Deberey Hinchey, a former social worker at hospice, said Hospice House will provide a new significant service for all of eastern Connecticut.

“It’s vital for people to have a place they feel comfortable when their death can’t happen at home,” she said, adding that her father, who died in August, had been a hospice patient.

Inside the Hospice House, patients and families will have access to the services of nurses, social workers, spiritual and bereavement counselors and “a lot of volunteers,” Williams said.

For every six patients, there will be one full-time nurse and one full-time health care aid.

In addition to the 25 staff who will be hired for the new facility, the project also will provide 100 construction jobs, said Sen. Cathy Osten, D-Sprague.

“Please tell me, is there anything not to like about this project?” she asked.

Osten was credited, along with state Sen. Paul Formica, R-East Lyme, state Reps. Kathleen McCarty, R-Waterford, Kevin Ryan, D-Montville, and John Scott, R-Groton, for helping to secure $2 million in state bond funds toward the project.

Lenny Winkler of Groton, president of the center’s board of directors, said planning for the project began 10 years ago when the organization was given the 7.5-acre parcel where the main building is located by the Saints Peter and Paul Church in Norwich.

“We were determined to plan a building that would be the right scale for the community,” she said.

The 15,500-square-foot, L-shaped structure will have an annual operating budget of about $1.8 million, with insurance reimbursement providing $1.6 million to $1.7 million and donations covering the remainder.

From 700 to 800 patients per year will receive care at the facility, most staying a couple of weeks.

As the ceremony ended, Beit invited attendees to join him in a champagne toast to mark the launch the final phase of the fundraising.

“The goal of the remaining $2 million is attainable,” he said. “All of you, please continue to be ambassadors to get this project done.”

j.benson@theday.com