HIGH POINT — High Point University will officially break ground Friday on the Plato S. Wilson Family School of

Commerce, named for the family of the retired furniture sales representative and longtime HPU supporter.

The ceremony is set for 9 a.m. at the corner of O.A. Kirkman and West College drives, and will follow the 36th annual Community Prayer Breakfast.

In announcing the event, HPU President Nido Qubein praised the Wilson family’s support and “faith in our vision.”

The 38,000-square-foot, three-story building will house classrooms, faculty offices, a conference room, trading room, a two-story entrance rotunda and a great hall for conferences and dining, which will flow out onto a patio. The school will offer marketing and management classes, with an emphasis on small business, entrepreneurship and sales, and is scheduled to open in the fall.

Wilson is a member of the American Furniture Hall of Fame.

Other pillars of the university’s business program are the Phillips School of Business and the Knabusch-Shoemaker International School of Home Furnishings and Design.