Iona College broke ground for the construction of the new business school on July 26, after multiple delays due to legal disputes with the city of New Rochelle.

The groundbreaking ceremony featured Dean of the School of Business Dr. William Lamb, President of Iona Dr. Joseph E. Nyre, alumnus and donor Robert V. LaPenta ’67, ‘00H and the Mayor of New Rochelle Noam Bramson. Dr. Darrell P. Wheeler, provost and senior vice president of academic affairs also attended the event with Iona alumnus James P. Hynes ’69, ‘01H and Br. Kevin M. Griffith ‘83. The president for the Student Government Association for the 2018-2019 school year, junior Hannah McGowan, represented the students of Iona at the groundbreaking.

“We have many people to thank for making this beautiful day a reality. Mr. LaPenta, who has generously invested in our future, and officials and community members alike in New Rochelle have also played a key role in securing a prosperous tomorrow,” Nyre said. “To be able to offer our students the best faculty in their fields, complemented by state-of-the-art facilities, fits the vision of what we seek to accomplish here at Iona through our new business school building.”

The new business school was announced in the fall of 2015 when LaPenta donated $15 million towards the project. He later added another $2.5 million to the project to match other donations, according to a press release from the college.

The construction is expected to cost $35 million and the building will include modern classrooms, new technology and a terrace, along with other features.

Last year, Iona filed a lawsuit against the city of New Rochelle for passing an ordinance which restricted Iona from merging tax lots. These tax lots would have accommodated the new environmental footprint of the business school, which will be over twice the current footprint. The college claimed in the lawsuit that the city had “unlawfully” passed the ordinance without properly notifying the college.

This prompted a defamation suit to be filed against the college by New Rochelle corporate council Kathleen Gill. Gill worked for the city’s Law Department until late 2013 when she came to work as counsel for Iona, according to the Journal News. She left the college in 2015 to return to work for the city. The suit Iona filed against the city claimed that Gill’s involvement in discussion about the college was a conflict of interest. Gill claimed that she had excused herself from the zoning discussion.

The college and the city came to an agreement in June 2018 to approve the plans for the construction of the business school and for renovations to Spellman Hall. Iona will not pursue further legal action with the city regarding these issues.

Construction on the business school is underway, along with other changes to the business school. In August of 2017, Lamb came on as the Dean of the Business School, and a new MBA program was adopted at the end of the fall semester in 2018.

Construction for the newly renovated business school is expected to be completed in the spring of 2020.

“We are deeply committed to continuous improvement, service to students, and community impact, and we are excited for 2020, when we will have a state-of-the-art space and a dramatically heightened student experience,” Dr. Lamb said at the groundbreaking.