Wake Forest University leaders say its new classroom facility in uptown is a way to recommit the school’s connection with the Queen City.

On Thursday, the university formally dedicated the 30,000-square-foot facility, which is in the old International Trade Center at College and Fifth streets. The location replaces Wake Forest’s old site in South Park.

The new building is nearly double the size of the old location, with four classrooms, state-of-the-art technology, study rooms and meeting space.

The facility offers Wake “more than a presence, but a place to call home,” in Charlotte said Melenie Lankau, an associate dean in the business school.

Wake Forest University Charlotte Center will initially house classes for the MBA program for working professionals, along with executive and continuing education programs.

But President Nathan Hatch said he hopes the location could one day be a site for programs in other fields as well. The school also hopes to host networking and community events in the space.

Charlotte is home to the largest number of Wake Forest alumni, with more than 6,000 graduates living in the area.

Wake’s main campus is in Winston-Salem.

The university first began offering MBA programs in Charlotte’s Morrocroft Centre in 1995. The program started with 30 students, and now has more than 200, the university said.

Jim McCorkle was part of the inaugural class in Charlotte. McCorkle, who attended Wake as an undergrad, said he was excited about the opportunity to take classes in the MBA program in Charlotte. He said the new building uptown is really nice, and he thinks it could help attract more people who want to take courses from Wake.

Charlotte is home to about 15 colleges and universities, and uptown has emerged as a major hub for higher education institutions in the past decade.

UNC Charlotte opened a classroom building in First Ward last fall. Northeastern University is offering a doctorate in education and master’s-level programs in space at Trade and Tryon streets, the school’s first expansion outside of Boston.

Meanwhile, Queens University of Charlotte hopes to one day offer graduate and other adult courses in the federal courthouse building

Johnson & Wales University also has a campus uptown, and Johnson C. Smith University is located minutes away.

Wake’s Dean of Business Steve Reinemund said the university hopes to collaborate with other institutions. That, he said, could help further encourage innovation in the region.

Learn more: http://business.wfu.edu/charlotte