Upon the arrival of students for fall semester, the new Farmer School of Business (FSB) building will be open for instruction.

Starting Tuesday, June 23, faculty and staff will begin moving into their respective offices, according to Ted Pickerill, assistant dean for administration in the FSB.

"We think that we'll have both Upham and Laws moved by the 2nd of July before the holiday," said Pickerill.

Pickerill added students would be able to meet with professors once they are moved into the building.

The construction was projected to cost around $52 million, according to John Seibert, senior project architect and manager, while the overall budget was $64.2 million including furniture, fixtures, equipment, and architect and engineer fees and permits.

The project finished two weeks early and an estimated $500,000 under budget, Seibert said.

Pickerill said the reason for the new construction was because of space, or lack thereof.

The FSB is currently split between Laws and Upham Halls, but with the new construction,the faculty offices will be consolidated into the FSB building, according to Pickerill.

"Everybody's really excited about moving to the real building, (it) allows us to have the entire business school in one building," Pickerill said.

Pickerill said some highlights of the new building include state-of-the-art classrooms with plenty of white boards and projectors, some designed for quick student interaction, and some with traditional fixed tables.

"Whatever the pedagogical style of the faculty will be accommodated," Pickerill said.

There are a total of 30 classrooms, most of which are located on the basement level of the building, according to Pickerill. Also in the basement are 12 "breakout" rooms that can be reserved by students and faculty for small group work.

Even with all these classroom, faculty worried about fitting all business courses into the building after adding two freshman business courses for the fall term, Pickerill said.

"Scheduling-wise we are able to fit all the classes we teach into the classrooms into the building," Pickerill said. "We were a little worried. We added two classes for freshman. Even with those, we're still able to schedule everything in the building."

The courses Pickerill referred to were BUS 101 and 102, a three- and one-credit course designed to be taken during the same semester.

"We added those to the core I believe two years ago," Pickerill said.

The building will also house a small and large auditorium seating of about 150 and 532 seats. Pickerill said this allows the FSB to host speakers and other larger events in the new building rather than in Hall Auditorium like in past years.

Pickerill added student services like the Buck Rogers offices, student organizations, professional development will all be consolidated on the first floor.

Aside from the student services center, there will be a common area on the first floor as well as a mock trial room, a trading room where students can simulate financial trading, a few classrooms and an area for quiet study, according to Pickerill.

"The third floor is all offices, some departmental and dean office suites," Pickerill said. "The second floor is mostly offices, couple faculty and departmental suites and interactive media studies."

Pickerill also said the head of the Armstrong Initiative for Interactive Media Studies have an office located on the second floor as well as international studies offices, some computer classrooms, a business technology lab and the entrepreneurship program's office.

Not all 200,018 square feet will be fully functional until the fall term starts.

"It's habitable on a limited basis," Pickerill said. "All the faculty offices and major administrative offices will have furniture to support moving the offices, but classrooms, the moveable tables and everything isn't due to be delivered until sometime before the middle of July."

Michael Mitroi, associate director of dining and culinary services, expects to open the newly constructed food court with the rest of the building.

"We've got a really beautiful interior," said Mitroi. "We're having signs made now for menu concepts … we're really excited about it, it's a great addition to our operations on campus. We don't anticipate any delays."

The food court will be themed according to different business terms, according to Mitroi. The food court itself is called 'Dividends,' the coffee area will be named 'Fiscal Grind,' a soup and quiche area called 'Preferred Stock,' and a self-explanatory 'Panini Portfolio' area.

The other concepts featured are Asian cuisine such as dumplings, salads, and rice dishes, a made-to-order salad bar and a variety of bottled beverages, chips, desserts and ready-to-go sandwiches, salads and sushi.

The food court will be open weekdays from 7 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., according to Mitroi.

The food court will follow the environmentally friendly goals of the building itself by using biodegradable boxes, cornstarch cups and environmentally friendly packaging, according to Mitroi.

According to Ted Christian, project architect for Miami, the project team for the new building is anticipating to meet the goal of a silver certification from the United States Green Building Council regarding the leadership in energy and environmental design (LEED).

The building set out to be an environmentally friendly building, and has been meeting a checklist on ways to become a certified 'green building,' according to Pickerill.

The final submission will be made in early August, but Miami will not see the results for several months on whether it will be pronounced a green building, added Christian.

According to Pickerill, the new FSB building 'puts us on par' with the top 20 undergraduate schools in the country.

He added the building will "enhance our ability to attract good students, to recruit and retain exceptional faculty, to better serve our students' professional needs and to deliver our curriculum in a manner conducive to student learning."