Wake Forest Sets Date for Farrell Hall's Official Debut

Photo: jaffeholden.com

Wake Forest University students are already enjoying the school's newest building: Farrell Hall.

Outsiders will get a chance to check out the state-of-the-art facility on Nov. 1, according to a notice I received late yesterday.

I'm very interested in this. When I ran the business school's official blog, I was among the first people to report on plans for the then-unnamed project. (It beceme Farrell Hall after the late Mike Farrell pledged a huge sum to assure its construction.)

My report was in April 2010. At that time, Dean Steve Reinemund pledged a fall 2013 opening even though he had raised just half of the funds. Needless to say, he met both the fund-raising and construction goals.

It will be interesting to witness what the Winston-Salem, N.C., school did to improve education (and leisure) at its business school. (The groundbreaking was held in April 2011.)

Photo: www.flick.com

Based on information from the school, the building is a 130,000-square-foot facility that cost about $55 million. There's space for 1,300 students, including 18 classrooms and offices for 170 faculty and staff. A full-service cafeteria meets a need that had long gone unmet at the business school.

School administrators seem particularly proud of the 400-seat auditorium that was funded by the Broyhill Family Foundation. They are already showcasing the venue, hosting retired P&G CEO Bob McDonald last week (here is a video of his talk so you can see the auditorium).

Students can lounge in the spacious Founders Living Room, and there's outdoor space to mingle when the weather cooperates.