LITTLE ROCK — The CARTI board of trustees said Friday that it signed an option to study a 37-acre site at the intersection of Interstate 630 and John Barrow Road in Little Rock as the location of a new cancer treatment center.
CARTI, formerly Central Arkansas Radiation Therapy Institute, dissolved its partnership with the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences effective June 30 and has conducted a search for a site, spokesman Alison Melson said.
UAMS paid CARTI $9.5 million for its assets on the medical school’s campus in Little Rock.
The institute reached the option, which includes the right to buy, with the Alley family.
Haitham Alley, a member of the family, declined to elaborate.
The Alley family owns Little Rock-based VCC, formerly Vratsinas Construction Co., one of the state’s biggest builders.
Melson said the value of the property has not been determined and the price of the facility, roughly 175,000 square feet, will not be known until the purchase is made and plans are drawn up.
Having all aspects of cancer treatment — radiation, medical, diagnostic and surgical — under one roof maximizes the effort, said Jan Burford, chief executive of CARTI.
The institute said on Aug. 24 that it had acquired Little Rock Hematology Oncology and Radiation Oncology Associates as a part of its plan to offer comprehensive services.
“For 35 years, CARTI offered basically one specialty in the ... treatment of cancer [which] has really changed, and that’s radiation therapy,” Burford said. It became evident that there is a “need to have closer collaboration between the various specialties.”
Fatigue is a problem for cancer patients, so reducing travel from one treatment center to the next is desirable, Burford said.
The wooded site is “very quiet. We wanted a very natural, noninstitutional feel. If you’re a patient dealing with cancer, you want a place that’s homey ... and as close a connection to nature as you can get, given the nature of the treatment.”
The property is easy to get to, Burford said. It’s “two simple turns off I-630 and conveniently located to all of the hospitals.”
Melson said that the deal could be finalized by mid-December and, if the deal goes through, construction could be completed by the fall of 2014.
After the center is opened, CARTI would continue to offer radiation therapy at St. Vincent Health System and Baptist Health System campuses in Little Rock and North Little Rock, Searcy, Conway and Mountain Home, Melson said.
Except for the Little Rock clinic, whose services will be moved to the new facility, chemotherapy will be continue to be offered in North Little Rock, Heber Springs, Benton, Clinton, El Dorado and Morrilton, she said.
Business, Pages 31 on 09/22/2012