Cancer society sells properties to help fund new $25m centre

Wednesday, 29 December 2021

An artist's impression of the new Canterbury West Coast Cancer Society building to be built on Langdons Rd, Papanui.

Two accommodation complexes where out-of-town cancer patients stay during treatment in Christchurch will be sold to help fund $25 million new premises for the Cancer Society.

Over a decade after losing its old premises in the earthquakes, the society’s Canterbury-West Coast division has started building its new centre on Langdons Rd in Papanui.

It will bring all the society’s services under one roof and is due to open in early 2023.

The new centre will have 50 bedrooms plus facilities for its administration and support services, and cater for up to 800 patients a year. The Government is contributing $6.5m from the Covid-19 shovel-ready recovery fund.

* Cancer Society wants to sell so it can develop integrated facility

* Cancer Society seeks land for new home after losing buildings to the earthquakes

Daffodil House owned by the Cancer Society in Papanui Rd, is forlsale. It was previously the Cotswold Hotel.

The society is now selling two motel complexes which have provided a home away from home for patients from around the South Island while undergoing treatment.

The division has already sold the former Manchester St property which housed its offices before the quakes, and the adjacent Cambridge Tce site which housed patients in Davidson House.

Liz Chesterman, chief executive of the Cancer Society’s Canterbury-West Coast division says it will be good to have all facilities on one site again.

Since then, it has had offices and offered other support services from premises in Fitzgerald Ave.

The properties for sale are Daffodil House in Merivale and Daffodil Lodge in Riccarton.

Daffodil Lodge on Riccarton Rd was known as Antonio’s Motor Lodge when the society bought it in 2013. It has owned Daffodil House on Papanui Rd, previously the Cotswold Hotel, since 2009.

Liz Chesterman, chief executive of the Canterbury West Coast division, said the two properties had served them well, but the sales would bring a welcome boost to their fundraising. Together the motel complexes have housed up to 41 patients at a time.

Chesterman said the Government grant had given them the confidence to go ahead with the new centre. They also have insurance settlements on hand, and a capital raising campaign will be launched early next year.

She said a new owner of the motels might want to take cancer patients from the society.

However, there were no conditions on the sales of the properties, and the society would make arrangements with other motels if needed, she said.

“It will be so good to be back all on the same site again, as a one-stop shop. At the moment we are running from sites around the city.”

Advertising from real estate firm Colliers, which is handling the sales, says both sites are suitable for redevelopment.