Whether it will catch on or not remains a question for later, but George Mason University officials have for the first time bestowed a formal name on their Arlington campus.
“Mason Square.”
At the same time, university officials announced that the new campus building set for groundbreaking ceremonies on April 6 will be known as Fuse at Mason Square.
The new space, part of a public-private partnership, will include 345,000 square feet of space that will include the university’s Institute for Digital Innovation, graduate programs from Mason’s new School of Computing and private-sector office space.
Construction of the building is set to wrap up by the summer of 2024; it will rise on space once occupied by the old Kann’s Department Store, which was purchased by Mason for use when it began its Arlington campus four decades ago. The campus sits along Washington Boulevard in the Virginia Square neighborhood.
In addition to the soon-to-arrive new building, Mason Square includes the Antonin Scalia Law School, the Schar School of Policy and Government, the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution, programs in Arts Management and the School of Business, Mason Enterprise, and Continuing and Professional Education, as well as meeting and conference facilities.