St. Clair College celebrated the official opening of the Zekelman Centre of Business and Information Technology Wednesday at its main campus.
The college was surprised by naming sponsor Barry Zekelman, who donated an additional $1-million to the organization.
The Zekelman family originally donated $5-million to help get the $23-million project off the ground. The remaining funding came from student fees and the alumni association.
"We understand the fact of what this college gives to the community and the opportunity it provides and we're just happy to be a part of it and we're happy to be able to make it happen," said Zekelman.
St. Clair College had over 14,000 students enrolled last year and nearly 40 per cent of them were enrolled in disciplines in the School of Business or Information Technology.
St. Clair College President Patti France said the Zekelman Centre of Business and Information Technology was needed as enrollment continues to grow.
"We're seeing more and more students wanting to go into business and information technology and a lot of our new programs are in there. Data analytics is very popular for example, networking is very popular," said France.
The Zekelman Centre includes 13 new classrooms, an auditorium named Alumni Hall, student study areas, and a multi-purpose computer lab. The facility also houses the new e-sports arena set to officially open next month.
The building was designed by Glos Associates and constructed by Oscar Construction.