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Hudson County Community College opens cutting edge library in Journal Square

By Matthew Speiser | The Jersey Journal
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on September 29, 2014 at 6:20 PM, updated September 29, 2014 at 6:50 PM

Hudson County Community College hosted a grand opening for its newest facility, a six-story, 112,000 square-foot library on Journal Square in Jersey City, Monday, Sept. 29, 2014. Reena Rose Sibayan | The Jersey Journal

Before a crowd of faculty, trustees, alumni and students, Hudson County Community College hosted the grand opening of its newest facility this morning: a six-story, 112,000 square foot library with plenty of bells and whistles.

"This new library is a game changer for Journal Square," said HCCC President Glen Gabert. "It's a symbol that we are a first-choice institution. HCCC is becoming a premier urban community college."

The $35,000,000 library, which broke ground in November 2012, is the product of collaborative funding between the county, state, and HCCC board of trustees. It is also a harbinger for further development of Journal Square by HCCC, which hopes to add a bookstore, a STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) facility, and parking garage in the coming years, according to William Netchert, chairman of the HCCC board of trustees.

"The college had the confidence in Journal Square to spend hundreds of millions of dollars developing the campus when nobody would spend money in Journal Square for years," Netchert said. "I think because of that, all of this new interest in Journal Square has been hastened because we are here."

http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/2...al_square.html