Continued demand for hospice services is prompting a local agency to expand its Wilmington facility.

Medical officials gathered Thursday to break ground on Wilmington-based Lower Cape Fear Hospice & LifeCareCenter’s latest venture -- a $3.1 million expansion of its Port City hospice care center, according to a news release.

Plans call for the center to add a six-room wing to its existing 12-bed Dr. Robert M. Fales Pavilion at 1406 Physicians Drive in the medical district near New Hanover Regional Medical Center.

“Our hospice care center in Wilmington has served more than 5,000 patients and families during the past 15 years,” Laurie Bystrom, president and CEO, said in a news release. “For the last three years, we have seen demand for inpatient hospice care exceed our facility’s capacity. Because of the demand for our Wilmington facility, some patients are placed on waiting lists or must stay in hospitals or other care facilities. We want to expand the Wilmington care center by 50 percent to help us better meet needs of the patients and families who want access to quality inpatient hospice care.”

The Wilmington division of LS3P Associates completed the architectural design of the facility, while Wilmington-based Monteith Construction will build the facility. 

In addition to the expansion, plans call for a complete renovation of the existing Fales Pavilion care center that includes updating the facility and providing new furniture and equipment, the news release said.

Veronica Godwin, development manager of major gifts for the Lower Cape Fear Hospice and capital campaign director, said Friday hospice officials raised $1 million for the facility during its private campaign. She said Thursday’s ground breaking now transitions the fundraising campaign for the expansion to the public – where officials hope to raise an additional $2.1 million for the expansion, and $800,000 for the renovation of the existing Fales Pavilion care facility. 

Lower Cape Fear Hospice Foundation’s “Every Moment Matters Campaign,” which is raising the funds for the renovation and expansion, is chaired by Jean Rosenberg, owner of Fiore Fine Flowers.

“We are in the public phase of the campaign, and we want to encourage more public support for the campaign,” Godwin said.

She said officials hope to complete both projects by the fall of 2014.

The Lower Cape Fear Hospice & LifeCareCenter is a nonprofit organization that serves more than 600 patients in an area that encompasses Bladen, Brunswick, Columbus, Pender, New Hanover and Onslow counties. The agency has two other inpatient care centers: the State Employees Credit Union Hospice House of Brunswick County, and the Angel House in Columbus.