Moffitt Cancer Center Celebrates Grand Opening of Moffitt McKinley Hospital

July 21, 2023

TAMPA, Fla. — Tampa Mayor Jane Castor joined Moffitt Cancer Center leaders for the grand opening ceremony of Moffitt McKinley Hospital, its new state of the art inpatient surgical hospital located on 20 acres across from the Richard M. Schulze Family Foundation Outpatient Center. The new hospital, which will have about 1,000 team members, was built in anticipation of a 65% increase in patient volumes and a 33% increase in cancer surgeries over the next 10 years. Castor, Moffitt President and CEO Dr. Patrick Hwu, founder H. Lee Moffitt, Moffitt Institute Board of Directors Chair Tim Adams, Moffitt Hospital Board of Directors Chair Beth Houghton and Fred Hames of Barr & Barr Construction for a ribbon-cutting.

“We all owe a debt of gratitude to H. Lee Moffitt,” Castor said. “To take a dream and turn that into a reality, especially a reality that, I will argue, is one of the best cancer-fighting facilities in the entire world.”

Lee Moffitt could not be more proud.

“A little less than 40 years ago, we opened our first facility at the University of South Florida and I remember how proud I was at that time,” H. Lee Moffitt said. “It was a huge accomplishment to get Florida’s first cancer center built. Since becoming a National Cancer Institute Comprehensive Cancer Center, we have touched so many patients. It’s because our doctors, researchers and staff are outstanding. People want to come here for the best cancer care in the world.”

The new inpatient surgical hospital is a 10-story, 498,000-square-foot facility featuring 19 operating suites, 128 inpatient rooms, 72 perioperative rooms, an intraoperative MRI, a diagnostic CT scanner and two nuclear medicine cameras. Opening with 80 inpatient beds staffed and equipped, it will have the capacity to expand to 400 to meet future demand.

“We are significantly increasing our capacity in order to help more patients and save so many lives here,” Hwu said. “We’re expanding all over so we can bring therapies closer to our patients and perform lifesaving research that will give them even better hope for tomorrow.”

To determine the best amenities and shape the hospital around patient and family needs, Moffitt leveraged the expertise of its Patient and Family Advisory Council. Patient and family advisors assisted with the design of patient rooms, family waiting areas, a surgical discharge lounge, visitor showers and family laundry facilities.

Moffitt is also making history with its focus on hiring minority, women, veteran and service-disabled and veteran-owned business enterprises. At the start of the project, Moffitt committed to a supplier diversity goal of 15%, or $50 million, over the span of the project. As of June 2023, $61 million in contracts has been committed to diverse vendors. This project, which took almost 2.3 million construction working hours, also generated roughly $308 million in direct salaries for construction workers, many of whom call Hillsborough County home.

The hospital site also includes a 26,000-square-foot central utility plant, three-story parking garage and a pedestrian bridge connecting the new hospital to the Richard M. Schulze Family Foundation Outpatient Center across McKinley Drive.

Moffitt partnered with Barr & Barr Inc., Hammes Company, HDR, Horus Construction Services Inc., Walter P. Moore and Ardurra Group, Inc. on the project, which broke ground in May 2020. The new hospital will treat its first surgical cases on July 31, 2023.

For b-roll of the ceremony, construction renderings and ceremony photos, click here.

About Moffitt Cancer Center
Moffitt is dedicated to one lifesaving mission: to contribute to the prevention and cure of cancer. The Tampa-based facility is one of only 54 National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers, a distinction that recognizes Moffitt’s scientific excellence, multidisciplinary research, and robust training and education. Moffitt’s expert nursing staff is recognized by the American Nurses Credentialing Center with Magnet^® status, its highest distinction. With more than 8,500 team members, Moffitt has an economic impact in the state of $2.4 billion. For more information, call 1-888-MOFFITT (1-888-663-3488), visit MOFFITT.org, and follow the momentum on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.