Moffitt Cancer Center is expanding.

Gold shovels have already turned up the soil on the McKinley Campus expansion.

A new building, scheduled to open in 2015, will be eight stories tall and 200,000 square feet. It will include research labs, as well as areas for breast cancer and head and neck treatment.

“This Moffitt Cancer Center, the research that takes place here is the blueprint for a great future for the area," Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn said. "We can’t let anybody stop us. We need more of this. ... We’re done building subdivisions for people that don’t exist.”

The project is the latest step in Moffitt's effort to keep its reputation as a state-of-the-art cancer facility.

“When (patients) find out they have cancer, it’s one of the scariest moments of their lives," center found H. Lee Moffitt said. "They need to know that when they come to the Moffitt for care, we’re going to give them hope as well as the best cancer care available anywhere in the county or anywhere in the world.”

The expansion was made possible by a 30-acre land donation from the city of Tampa, Hillsborough County and support from the Florida Legislature.