FLORENCE, SC (WMBF) - With $15 million secured, models are being made and Florence is forging ahead with plans to build a new medical facility.

The Francis Marion University Health and Sciences Complex will be a 52,000 square-foot building "that will accommodate state of the art nursing medical training - that's just extraordinary, said Dr. Fred Carter, President of FMU. It will be built at the intersection of Irby and West Evans Street.

On Monday, the university unveiled preliminary renderings of what that three-story, L-shaped building will look like.

The front of the building will sit along West Evans, complete with a large outside area for student studies and outdoor activities.

And when the medical school is complete in the fall of 2016 it will complement surrounding buildings in downtown Florence.

The building will celebrate the architecture downtown, and with the old post office across the street, we certainly didn't want a duplication but we were hoping that would play off of that and capture some elements of the old Trust building, and I think we have done a wonderful job, said Ray Reich, Downtown Florence Development Manager.

It's in this new building that students from both Francis Marion University and the University of South Carolina will learn.

University leaders said the health and science complex will help FMU meet the need ofexpanding medical programs.

We have added on to our bachelor of science and nursing program. We have added on master's degree in nurse practice and nurse education. This next year we will add a master's degree in physician's assistance, Carter said.

All of these added degrees and the new health sciences complex started with a need found here in the state of South Carolina.

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FMU moves forward with new medical school