The state contributed $7 million to the project with an estimated overall cost of $31 million for renovating and updating key academics facilities on the William Paterson campus.
Preakness Hall replaces the university’s 50-year-old Hunziker Wing and has been modernized to include kinesiology laboratories, 14 smart classrooms with 133-inch high-definition projectors, a 90-seat auditorium, a writing center and faculty offices for the Departments of English and Philosophy.
The official ribbon cutting ceremony for the building was held on Friday.
The renovation of Preakness Hall is the first part of a two-part project to renovate Hunziker Hall.
The second part is expected to complete construction by summer 2018.