HARRISONBURG — James Madison University sold the naming rights to its new basketball arena to Richmond-based Union Bank & Trust in the largest corporate sponsorship deal for a building in school history, the university announced Friday at a news conference inside Bridgeforth Stadium.

The 10-year agreement, worth $2.25 million, pushed JMU past its goal of $12 million in private funds to pay for the new arena, which will be called the Union Bank & Trust Center.

The project has been expected to cost $88 million with the rest of the money financed through bond offerings that Madison will repay with interest to the Virginia Department of Treasury over 20 to 25 years.

The arena will be built at the corner of Carrier Drive and University Boulevard, just down the road from the Convocation Center — located on University Boulevard near Port Republic Road, which was built in 1982 and seats 6,426 — where the Dukes currently play their home games.

JMU’s senior vice president for administration and finance, Charles King, said he expects the school to break ground on the facility this spring with a two-year construction plan that will allow JMU’s basketball programs to move into the arena for the 2020-21 season. He said he expects the arena will become a hallmark building for the campus well into the future.

“All of you have visited other campuses, and when you think about those visits, I’m sure there was a signature building somewhere on that campus that you remember,” King said. “At JMU we have several of those ... and I think this new building we’re going to build is going to be just like those buildings. It’s going to be a signature building for this campus for many years to come.”

The school has hired S.B. Ballard Construction within the past month as the general construction manager in charge of building the arena, King said.

S.B. Ballard Construction is based in Virginia Beach and built Old Dominion University’s Constant Center in 2002 and more recently built Virginia State’s new basketball arena.

King said Ballard’s work on the facilities at ODU were a major reason the school chose the firm to be in charge of construction on this project.

Athletics director Jeff Bourne said this facility will help JMU regain equal footing with former Colonial Athletic Association rivals George Mason University, ODU and Virginia Commonwealth University, who all left the conference after building more modern arenas.

“The one thing that happened at all of their schools before they eventually left to go to another league is they all built facilities,” Bourne said. “They all built new arenas. They built the practice facilities, and I think it helped separate their program from others, ours included. I believe firmly that the fact JMU has made this step and the fact we’re doing that is a huge step forward for us.”

The new arena will also help the basketball programs compete on the recruiting trails against their peers.

Both men’s basketball coach Louis Rowe and women’s basketball coach Sean O’Regan said they show potential recruits the flyover video JMU created in 2015 of the new Convocation Center during recruiting visits, but neither of them said it was a major part of their pitch.

O’Regan said he isn’t sure what impact Friday’s announcement will have on recruiting until he can physically walk prospects through the new arena.

“We’ve been talking about this, but until you’re walking players through it...” O’Regan said. “Some of our 2018 kids have seen the video, and same with the ’19s, but it’s the ones that you’re going to be able to walk through and say, ‘This is the practice facility; this is the game facility’ that’s when I think it will really change the level.”

In addition to hosting the JMU basketball programs, the new arena will serve as an attraction for many nonsporting events, including concerts and JMU’s graduation.

University President Jonathan Alger said the project signified the school’s commitment to enriching the Harrisonburg and Rockingham County communities in addition to improving life for students on campus.

“This new facility will indeed serve as a model of the university’s vision statement in action. In particular, it represents our commitment to community engagement,” Alger said. “It will of course be a great boost of athletics and our basketball programs, but it’s also going to be a great state-of-the-art venue for university events like commencement, hosting prominent guest speakers, convocations and all sorts of other gatherings.

“It will indeed be a place for the community to gather.”

Among the many upgrades for fans inside the 8,500-seat Union Bank & Trust Center are 500 club seats, new courtside seating with a special hospitality area and a specific area for students to congregate before the game. Bourne also said there will be a national restaurant chain that will sell concessions in the arena, but that deal has not been finalized.

For the basketball programs, the new arena will include a separate practice facility for the teams to use if the main arena is occupied.

Currently, the teams split practice time at the Convocation Center, alternating between practicing in the afternoon or evening. If there is an event at the Convocation Center, the teams will practice at UREC instead.

Rowe said although he is happy for his players that there will be more amenities for them inside the new arena, he was most excited about the practice courts that are going to be built.

“Obviously, [for] the young men we’re recruiting, it’s the bells and whistles, the locker room and all that stuff. And it’s beautiful and I want that for them because I know it’s important for them,” Rowe said. “But for me, it’s having a practice facility. If you asked the builders, every meeting I went in, I was like ‘What’s the dimensions of the practice facility? Are the walls going to be big enough that we can work some guys out.’ To me, that’s everything.”

Although the school has reached its fundraising goal, Bourne said the campaign is still ongoing to raise more money for the construction. He said he expects there to be a few bumps along the way, and the department would need the extra reserve to help make the arena even more of a “game-changer” for the university.

“We are where we want to be, but we want to raise another million dollars,” Bourne said. “Anybody that’s ever built a house or remodeled a structure would say there’s always something you didn’t expect in the end. We’re not naive; we realize this building will be two years in the process and there will be things the coaches will probably bring forward that we haven’t thought about yet. We’d like to have that reserve in hand so when those things are identified, we’re able to help.”