The future of the Penn State Dickinson School of Law is becoming clearer -- the Penn State Board of Trustees approved final plans Friday for a new law building at University Park.

The $60 million law school building will be about 113,000 sq. ft. and will have an indoor/outdoor café overlooking the arboretum, a courtroom and auditorium on the first floor, and a library on the second floor, according to a presentation by Penn State's Senior Vice President For Finance and Business Gary Schultz.

The building is scheduled to open in January 2009. According to Schultz's presentation, the building will be set back about 500 ft. from Park Avenue, next to the Intramural Fields. New pathways will be paved for pedestrians walking from Park Avenue to the building.

Murmurs of approval rippled through the crowd of board members assembled as Schultz played a video showing what the building will look like from Park Avenue.

Paul Ruskin, spokesman for the Office of Physical Plant (OPP), said no date had been set for the building's groundbreaking, though he indicated construction would begin "toward the end of 2006."

The trustees also agreed to allow the university to sell a 10.885-acre piece of property that it had owned in Carlisle, the original site of the law school. The university had owned the property since 1998. Schultz indicated
that the university had originally paid $1.5 million for the land, and that it had been used for what he called "library holdings" since that time.

The proposal to sell the land was met with some contention from Trustee David Jones.

"Why did we buy it, and why do we suddenly not need it anymore?" Jones asked Schultz.

Schultz responded by saying Penn State had been in "very serious need for library holdings."

"This is a good deal for the university," Schultz told the board.

The board approved the sale of the land for $2.4 million.