Penn State’s Board of Trustees on Friday approved final plans and funding for a new innovation and maker-space center in downtown State College.

The $56.8 million, six-story building will be located at the former site of the 99-year-old James Building at 121-123 S. Burrowes St. It will be a hub for the Invent Penn State entrepreneurial and innovation initiative and will house deans’ suites for the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences and College of Information Sciences and Technology.

“This building will allow us to expand on the success of Invent Penn State and will become a center for innovation, making, and knowledge sharing for Penn State and the local community,” Lora Weiss, senior vice president for research at Penn State, said in a news release. “It will serve as a cornerstone of our entrepreneurial ecosystem.”

The 85,000-square-foot building is expected to be completed in the spring of 2021 and will include space for the Happy Valley LaunchBox  business accelerator, which will relocate from its current home at 224 S. Allen St.

It will have workshops, a virtual reality and immersive technology lab, co-working spaces, classrooms, and collaboration and lecture areas. The sixth floor will have a large event and multifunction area with an outdoor porch and view of campus.

Floors one and two will have Invent Penn State facilities with an open concept and mezzanine. Upper floors will have office and meeting spaces.

The exterior will have a modern look with glass and metal, and pedestrians on South Burrowes Street and New Alley will be able to see activity inside. First floor setbacks and cantilevered upper floors will allow for the creation of a covered sidewalk at the south side of the building along New Alley.

An underground parking area will have 31 spaces. The university was granted a zoning amendment for a reduction in spaces for non-residential new construction. While the number of spaces will not be enough for everyone who works in the building, university planner Neil Sullivan said at a State College Planning Commission meeting earlier this year that most occupants are expected to continue parking in campus facilities.

The parking will be gated and controlled by permits provided to building occupants.

James Building was built in 1920 and Penn State began leasing it in 1988 before purchasing it in 2009. From 1989 until this past summer it was home to the Daily Collegian student newspaper, and also housed offices for the Bellisario College of Communications and the Media Effects Research Lab. They were relocated for demolition of the building this fall and will move to the new Bellisario Media Center in Willard Building when it is completed next year.

Project manager Dave Peck said in June that the university evaluated the James Building for several years, but that structural and HVAC problems as well as access issues led to the decision to demolish it and build new.

The new building had been called the Center for Innovation, Making and Learning during the borough plan approval process. However, trustee agendas and a university press release this week refer to it only as the “James Building replacement.”