Spelman College Mary Schmidt Campbell Center for Innovation Arts

ATLANTA — Spelman College is expanding its reach with a new education center.

College leaders broke ground on the complex Friday, marking the first new academic facility to be built on the campus in 25 years.

Donning Marian blue construction hats and specialty white Spelman College shovels, several leaders held a ceremonial groundbreaking to mark where the institution's Center for Innovation and the Arts will stand.

The 84,000-square-foot education center will house Spelman's creative and scientific disciplines, a spokesperson for the college said. The historically Black private women's college hopes the center will also serve as a new arts and culture hub for Atlanta's West End community.

“Spelman is investing in the integration of art and technology as the rapid convergence of art, technology, entrepreneurship, the liberal arts and science is yielding new solutions to old challenges," Mary Schmidt Campbell, Ph.D., and president of Spelman said in a news release.

Though Campbell assisted with the conception and groundbreaking of the building, its vision will materialize under a new president. Spelman College named Dr. Helene Gayle as its next leader who is expected to take the helm July 1.

However, Campbell's legacy will forever be cemented as the building will bear her name. During Friday's ceremony, the school announced it will be known as the Mary Schmidt Campbell Center for Innovation & the Arts. 

Once complete, it will be the first building constructed outside of Spelman's gates.

With the gift from Ronda Stryker and William Johnston, the college has raised more than a third of the total cost of the center, which received its first gift from Leonard and Louise Riggio in 2016, a news release reads. The cost of the new facility is $86 million.