BLACKSBURG -- Hundreds of former Hokies got their first look at the university's new alumni center Friday during a formal dedication ceremony of the Inn at Virginia Tech complex.

While the hotel and the Skelton Conference Center have been operational for months, staff were still putting the final touches on the Holtzman Alumni Center hours before Friday's ceremony.

The center is named for William Holtzman, a 1959 graduate and major donor who is vice chairman of the campaign steering committee of the Virginia Tech Foundation board of directors.

The new home of the Virginia Tech Alumni Association is pure luxury compared with the group's previous quarters in an aging wing of Donaldson Brown Hotel and Conference Center.

The lower floor features Tech's first museum dedicated to the history of the entire university as well as the alumni association. Inside are super-sized photos of the days when Tech was known as VPI and Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College as well as flags, rings, books and other memorabilia.

A 135-seat auditorium anchors one corner of the expansive building. A living room with chairs, couches, a fireplace and a grand piano offers alumni room to lounge, as well as access to a stone courtyard overlooking the Duck Pond.

The second floor houses a board room for the university's alumni board, a reading room, an Internet room and conference rooms. The upper floor houses the staff offices of the alumni association.

On Friday, hundreds of alumni -- many of them major donors to the university -- toured the new center following a formal dedication of the complex.

George "Buddy" Russell, the former vice president for alumni relations at Tech and a 1952 graduate, said he is pleased that alumni finally have a place in which to reminisce and show their families.

"I think it's wonderful," said Russell, who worked at Tech for nearly four decades. "We have been needing this type of facility for a long time."