Friday, November 9, 1984
The Arizona Cancer Center could be completed within two years if construction begins by early next year, as is hoped, University of Arizona President Henry Koffler said at groundbreaking ceremonies yesterday.
The UA Office of Planning and Budgeting will decide among six construction bids received last week. Koffler said he would present the choice to the Arizona board of Regents for approval at next week’s regents’ meeting in Tucson.
Among those officiating with Koffler at the groundbreaking ceremonies, which were at University Medical Center and attended by about 300 people, were Gov. Bruce E. Babbit; Dr. Sydney E. Salmon, director of research for the cancer center; and members of the Arizona Board of Regents.
The new center “”will give birth to a constellation of technology and industry coming to this city,”” Babbitt said. He added that the center will pave the way for an influx of medical industries in the community, creating new jobs,
More than 28,000 treatments are expected to be administered and 2,000 new patents will be treated within the first year, Koffler said.
The interim facility now treats about 1,500 patients per year, a cancer-center spokeswoman said.
“”The biggest problem (facing UA cancer researchers) is a lack of adequate space for research and that’s the significance of the new building,”” Salmon sad.
“”Today I want to affirm your faith and hope…I am condiment that cancer will not only be treatable, but curable,”” he said.
Construction bids ranged from $10.2 to $10.8 million. Fund-raising efforts for the construction of the five-story, 81,000-square-foot cancer center has generated about $9.3 million.
It has been estimated that an additional $5 million will be needed to equip the research and treatment facility.
The hospital began treating patients in 1972. Three years later, the temporary facility, a series of portable buildings on the north side of the Arizona Health Sciences Center, was established.
By 1978, the Arizona Cancer Center facility was established as one of the 60 cancer centers recognized by the National Cancer Institute.
