BOSTON — Construction has begun on Dana-Farber’s Lavine Bekenstein Cancer Hospital, a 300-bed facility in the Longwood Medical Area scheduled to open in 2031. The project advances the institute’s collaboration with Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center as it moves away from its longtime affiliation with Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
Hospital executives, donors and public officials gathered for the groundbreaking Oct. 19. The project carries a price tag of $1.68 billion, according to The Boston Globe, and will occupy the former Joslin Diabetes Center property on Brookline Avenue.
The building will encompass 450,000 square feet, with inpatient beds distributed across 10 floors. Dana-Farber describes it as the region’s only hospital devoted entirely to inpatient cancer treatment. Its planned opening will give the institute a dedicated facility for patients who need hospitalization during their care.
The construction milestone also marks a broader reorganization of cancer services among some of Boston’s largest medical institutions. Dana-Farber’s collaboration with Beth Israel Deaconess is taking shape while Mass General Brigham, the parent organization of Brigham and Women’s, develops a competing cancer institute.
A campus built around cancer care
Dana-Farber says the hospital is intended to connect inpatient treatment, outpatient services and research across the Longwood campus. Beth Israel Deaconess and Harvard Medical Faculty Physicians are part of that coordinated effort, linking the institutions’ cancer services and related specialties.
The hospital’s location places it near the clinicians and researchers involved in that work. Dana-Farber says the project is designed to bring scientific investigation and patient care closer together, with the goal of moving research discoveries into treatment. Those aims are central to the institute’s description of the facility, rather than outcomes established by its construction.
Gov. Maura Healey and Mayor Michelle Wu participated in the groundbreaking. Both highlighted the project’s role in Massachusetts’ cancer research and medical care infrastructure, according to Dana-Farber’s announcement.
Breast oncology begins the transition
The groundbreaking coincided with the first service moving into the Dana-Farber–Beth Israel Deaconess care arrangement. Breast oncology shifted to the model Oct. 19, beginning a phased change that the institutions say will continue over several years.
Under that arrangement, Dana-Farber provides outpatient breast cancer care, while operations take place at Beth Israel Deaconess. The division of services was described by both Beth Israel Deaconess and the Globe. It puts part of the clinical collaboration into practice well before the hospital building is ready.
Dr. Elizabeth Mittendorf leads the breast surgery division at Beth Israel Deaconess. She previously worked at Brigham and Women’s, according to the hospital’s announcement and the Globe’s reporting.
What’s next: Construction will proceed toward the scheduled 2031 opening while additional clinical services transition in phases. The breast oncology arrangement is the first step in that multiyear process, rather than a single transfer tied to the new building’s completion.
