Long awaited, much debated and eagerly anticipated, Alfred Lerner Hall stood ready to welcome students as they returned to campus for the Fall semester.

An official opening ceremony for the new $85 million, 225,000 square foot student center is scheduled for October 1, but the building has been buzzing with activity for months now. The bookstore, which is operated by Barnes & Noble and occupies the basement level of the building on Broadway and 115th Street, has been open for business since the beginning of the summer, and various student groups and administrators, including Dean of Student Affairs Chris Colombo, moved in during July and August.

Lerner Hall, named in honor of Alfred Lerner '55, succeeds Ferris Booth Hall as Columbia's student center and rose in its footprint. However, Ferris Booth Hall, built in 1960, had only about one-third the usable space as Lerner.

Described in a recent article in The New York Times as "an architecturally arresting colossus," the building was designed by Bernard Tschumi, Columbia's Dean of Architecture, and has three sections. The core features 100-foot glass ramps (yes, rollerblading is prohibited) and a 5,600-square foot glass facade that looks out on the Morningside Heights campus. The two adjoining wings are more traditional in design, and the brick and stone facade on Broadway was chosen to blend with neighboring Furnald Hall.Lerner Hall features a 1,500-seat auditorium, a restaurant and cafe, offices, rehearsal rooms and meeting space for some 90 student clubs, and a wall of more than 6,000 mailboxes that will enable students to get their mail at one address for their entire stay at Columbia.