During the three years liver transplant recipient Artur Santos, 6, of Brazil, has lived in Pittsburgh, his mother, Soraya Carvalho, has spent many uncomfortable nights in a reclining chair near her son's bed in Children's Hospital.

Between surgeries and follow-up care, when Artur wasn't in the hospital, they stayed at the Ronald McDonald House and apartments on Shady Avenue, about two miles away.

In June, the Ronald McDonald House will move from the stately Victorian building in Shadyside to a high-rise in Lawrenceville, on the new Children's Hospital campus, that will more than double the current capacity.

The smile on Mrs. Carvalho's face yesterday showed she will gladly sacrifice Victorian charm for the utility and convenience of the new, seven-story Ronald McDonald House that was once a senior high-rise.

Not the least of the benefits -- instead of a chair that folds into some semblance of a cot, parents of ill children will have private, apartment-style rooms connected to the hospital by an enclosed walkway.

Stained glass windows and high ceilings are fine, but there's nothing like a comfortable bed close by after a long vigil at your child's bedside.

"It will be very nice because there it will be very easy to stay inside because it's inside the hospital," she said.

Yesterday's announcement by Ronald McDonald House Charities Executive Director Bill Grattan and board President Joe Rockey, and Children's Hospital Chief Executive Officer Roger Oxendale, was accompanied by a videotaped statement by Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger.

The former St. Francis Plaza high-rise for seniors, built by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, will have 60 fully-equipped one-bedroom apartments, four communal areas and a dining room named for Big Mac inventor Jim Delligatti. Amenities include computers and free Internet access, laundry facilities, a library, televisions and a children's play area.

Perhaps best of all, the facility will provide 21,900 "family night" stays each year compared with the current 9,000.

Because of the current site's limited space, Ronald McDonald House Charities had to put families up in local hotels 350 times last year.

"For the last couple of years, it has been almost every night" that at least one family could not be accommodated, Mr. Rockey said.

Families typically stay only a week or two, paying $11 a night in the Ronald McDonald House or $20 a night to stay in an apartment complex next door. In rare cases such as Artur's that involve extensive follow-up care, the stays can last years. Mrs. Cavalho said they hope to return to Brazil in about a year.

Owned by Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, the new facility will be under a 25-year lease to Ronald McDonald House Charities. Mr. Rockey said the organization plans to launch a $2 million to $2.5 million fund-raising campaign in coming weeks to help furnish the building.

The house they are leaving, which opened 29 years ago for families of ill children who need temporary housing, is being sold to Shadyside Properties Inc. under the management of Franklin West.

Caroline West, co-owner of Shadyside Properties, said the company intends to renovate 500 Shady Ave., which is currently tax-exempt, into about 10 apartments for single families while preserving the building's 19th-century Victorian style.

"Our goal would be to maintain everything that it is possible to maintain," she said.