NEWARK, NJ—Rutgers University has announcedplans to occupy a portion of the former Hahne &Company department store in downtown Newark to develop anarts and cultural center called “Express Newark.”

The Rutgers University Board of Governors approved the$25-million plan late last week. The multi-purpose will include anarts incubator, communication media center design consortium, printshop, portrait studio, and lecture hall/maker space, as well as newexhibition and performance spaces for artists' space programming bythe RU-N Institute of Jazz Studies and theNewark Museum.

Rutgers is taking 57,000 square feet of the 440,000-square-footbuilding that opened in 1901. Hahne & Co. closed its doors in1986, according to NJ.com. Newark-based Hanini Group in partnershipwith L&M Development acquired the 440,000-square-foot buildinglast year. The Board of Governors authorized Rutgers to spend up to$25 million, contingent upon securing approximately $8 million fromvarious incentive programs and cost projections that would enablethe university to complete and operate the project.