Hospice of Southern Maine is prepared to move forward with construction of its 16,000-square-foot, 18-bed hospice building this spring.

Plans for the new building have been completed and the organization has raised more than $5 million for the construction of the facility at Hunnewell Road on a five-acre parcel donated by Agnes Desfosses. The project has not yet received Planning Board approval, though an August zone change allows the business to build on the parcel.

The organization, which has been providing home-based hospice care for a year now, estimates that more than 700 people will receive end-of-life care at the facility annually.

Hospice of Southern Maine also will benefit from the recent decision to disband the Hospice of Maine, which will discontinue its role as a direct service provider at the end of the year.

Hospice of Maine has provided hospice volunteers and bereavement services to clinical hospice services for 30 years. The organization decided to stop offering its service in order to strengthen the areas two other hospice organizations – Hospice of Southern Maine and VNA Healthcare.

Both organizations previously had been contracting with Hospice of Maine for various services in Cumberland County, but will now be providing their own services. In addition, Hospice of Maine said in a statement its decision will lead to consolidation of hospice services and reduce consumer confusion.