The Smeal College of Business Administration is raising funds for the construction of a new business building that is set to be the largest academic building on campus.

The 210,000-square-foot building will be located at the corner of Shortlidge Road and Park Avenue, across from North Halls. The Mitchell Building, which shares the area with some parking spaces, will be torn down. The Mitchell Building houses distance education offices and other university offices.

The budget for the project is $60 million, with $35 million from the university and $25 million in private donations as part of Penn State's five-year capital improvement plan. Recently, the Smeal College announced a $3 million donation from the Richard King Mellon Foundation, and announcements of more donations will come within a few weeks, said Phil Bolda, director of development for Smeal.

"We're in line here," he said. "We're cautiously optimistic about getting the funds in hand."

Actions to establish the building are taking place before the full donation amount has been met.

Robert A.M. Stern Architects, a New York firm, and Bower Lewis Thrower Architects are meeting with university officials from the college and the Office of Physical Plant to rapidly create designs for the planned facility.

Planners met to discuss the project about two weeks ago and representatives from RAMSA traveled to campus again on Tuesday for further meetings.

Plans for what the building will include exist, but conceptual design sketches are still in the development process. A design plan for the building will be presented to the Penn State Board of Trustees at an upcoming meeting.

The building will house 55,000 square feet of classroom space as well as a new trading room, auditorium and faculty and business research areas. The plans include various learning spaces such as instructional studios, team study rooms and interview rooms.

"It's a critical need here, and we're just happy that it's going to be a reality," Bolda said.

The Smeal College has more than 6,000 students but its course classrooms are spread across campus and its technological labs may soon become obsolete.

Greg Christopher, a RAMSA project manager, estimates that the building will be three or four stories in places to spread out the massive square footage in an aesthetically pleasing manner.

"Our goal is to keep it low, but it is substantial in size," he said. "You don't want it to look like a Wal-Mart."

RAMSA is working on an overall university improvement project for the block between Shortlidge Road, Curtin Road, Park Avenue and Bigler Road. This block is the future site of the new forestry building, a parking deck and the food sciences building, which will include the new Berkey Creamery.

Christopher said the timeline for the building has construction scheduled for a year beginning in the summer of 2003. The building should be ready for occupancy in the fall of 2005.

"We're already under the gun," Christopher said.

Smeal faculty, staff and students have been very involved in the planning process, said Judy Olian, dean of the Smeal College.

"We'll finally bring everyone home," Olian said of the planned facility. "That's the most exciting thing about the building."