The Dragonfly Foundation brings comfort and joy to kids and young adults enduring cancer and bone marrow transplants. Founded in 2010 by Christine Neitzke and Ria Davison, the foundation prioritizes emotional care for the 600 patients and 2,800 family members it currently serves.
On February 14 the foundation announced it would begin a capital campaign to raise $15 million over the next two years for the construction of a unique new space called the Landing 3.0. The Landing 3.0 will be built on an expansive, 30-acre property and will include short-term housing for some Dragonfly families, a boutique hotel and short-term housing for members of the general public looking to live in a socially conscious community.
The foundation’s current 6,000 sq. ft. facility, named The Landing 2.0, is a private, away-from-the-hospital retreat for Dragonfly patients and their family members. The current Landing provides a respite from the stress, loneliness and monotony that families often experience during treatment and recovery. Yet it does not offer over-night accommodations, a service gap The Landing 3.0 is intended to fix.
The newly announced facility will feature private amenities available only to Dragonfly patients and family members, including The Landing itself, a mini-golf space and a Zen garden. Other facilities, such as a shared fitness center and walking trails in a park-like setting, will be available as well thanks to the project’s nature as an innovative public-private partnership.
Originally, when the Dragonfly Foundation began talks with Dan deStefano, president of W.V. deStefano Homes and Dragonfly board member, the conversation centered on building a facility or renovating an old space. But when the foundation and deStefano approached HGC Construction about serving as the project’s contractor, the tone of the conversations changed, and the idea grew much larger.
The plan the Dragonfly Foundation, deStefano Homes and HGC Contruction unveiled Saturday is unique in Cincinnati – and perhaps in the nation. The housing components of the announced development will function as rental properties with a boutique hotel managed by the Ackermann Group. Three-quarters of the residences will be offered at market rate to members of the general public. Rentals in the development will partially offset the cost of renting out the remaining residences to Dragonfly patients and their families.
This unique public-private partnership scales up the size of the development and allows the foundation to provide world-class amenities for its patients and families without shouldering the project's entire cost, which is expected to be between $25 and 30 million.
The foundation's $15 million capital campaign, announced at its annual gala, is intended to reach completion in the next two years. The foundation hopes to break ground on the new community development at teh end of 2015 and complete the project by 2017.
For more information, go to buildthelanding.org.