Partnership forms to expand Moffitt

The Tampa Chamber of Commerce partnered with H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center Monday and launched a campaign to promote a bill introduced Tuesday that would support the expansion of Moffitt. 

The campaign, Jobs for the Cure, backs a bill that would allow tax revenue from cigarette sales to fund the building of a Moffitt expansion on McKinley Street. The bill will be heard during the Florida legislative season that opened Tuesday.

Moffitt Government Relations spokesman John DeMuro said an expansion would lead to job growth in the area.

"The Chamber of Commerce is invested in promoting economic vitality in the Tampa Bay area," he said. "The initiative that they're supporting at Moffitt has the potential for creating thousands of jobs. For this campaign, the interests of Moffitt Cancer Center and the interests of Tampa Chamber of Commerce are shared. Promoting growth in cancer research and treatment jobs will help accomplish economic recovery in the greater Tampa area." 

DeMuro said an expanded Moffitt could create more than 3,000 construction jobs and 2,000 permanent jobs, 927 of which would be at Moffitt.

"These are just the kind of jobs our state economy needs in the long term," he said. "Jobs in the biotech sector are high-paying jobs that are good for the community and the economy, but also addresses a major health problem and drives a knowledge-base economy. It's an alternative to the traditional sector, like tourism and agriculture, that Florida traditionally bases it economy on."