Hillel expects to close on the new property in May and to put a shovel into the ground within one year, said Rutgers Hillel executive director Andrew Getraer.

The purchase of the $2 million property paves the way for the launch of a $15 million capital and endowment campaign to fund and maintain Hillel’s proposed new 35,000-square-foot facility — a state-of-the-art facility that will be a home to Jewish students for decades to come, according to Getraer.

“I’m elated. We’ve been working on this for a long time,” Getraer said as he sat in an office in the cramped and aging quarters of Hillel’s current facility at 93 College Ave., a converted house leased from the New Brunswick Theological Seminary.

The new property, which overlooks the Raritan River at the intersection of George Street and Bishop Place, measures close to two-thirds of an acre, Getraer said. Formerly the site of the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity, the location currently is home to the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity. “It’s probably the largest lot in the area not owned by the university or the seminary,” he said.

Getraer noted that the property, at 572 George St., sits just across from the entranceway to the campus with its official sign, “Welcome to Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey.”

“It’s one of the most prominent, visible locations on campus — really at the gateway to the College Avenue campus, right at the entrance to Route 18,” he said. “On one side, people will see, ‘Welcome to Rutgers.’ On the other side, Rutgers Hillel. I think that tells a nice story for the Jewish community.”

Richard Corman, president of the Rutgers Hillel board, also expressed pleasure at the news. “We finally have a home for Hillel. I’m feeling very, very elated,” Corman said during a telephone interview.

“I was a student president of Hillel many, many moons ago,” added Corman, executive director of the JCC of Central New Jersey in Scotch Plains. “I know firsthand what it does in terms of Jewish identity and grooming leadership. I’m optimistic that with the new facility, Hillel can attract and inspire the Jewish leaders of the future.”

Rutgers President Richard McCormick issued a statement pledging the university’s support for the move. “We are committed to helping Hillel take this next step in serving Jewish students at Rutgers,” McCormick stated. “A strong and vibrant Hillel is an important part of a thriving and successful Rutgers University.”

Rutgers Hillel outgrew its current location a long time ago, Getraer said. With 5,000 Jews on campus, Rutgers has the fourth-largest Jewish population of any school in the country, he said. But it is the only university campus among the top 20 in Jewish population that does not have a state-of-the-art facility.

“Thank God we have been very successful in the last five years,” he said. “We’ve gone from serving 500 students a year to serving over 2,000 students a year. We’ve gone from Shabbat dinners that average 125 people to ones that average 275 people. It’s not unusual for over 300 students to come to Hillel for Shabbat dinner. The tragedy is that we don’t have the room for them. We’re turning students away, and that’s unacceptable.”

The projected new facility will encompass three stories and a basement, with a large dining area, classrooms, offices, an Israel resource center, a computer lab, an exhibit gallery, a social lounge, and prayer space for the various denominational communities.

As it plans its new facility, the agency is working closely with Hillel International and with the eight NJ Jewish federations, including United Jewish Communities of MetroWest NJ, that include Hillel as a constituent, he said. Hillel will also seek the input of students and profit from the experiences of other campuses with comparable demographics that have built new Hillel facilities over the past few years.

“This is a project that serves the entire state’s Jewish community, and it will be successful because the entire state is behind it,” Getraer said. “It’s one of the most hopeful and inspiring projects the Jewish community can have. When your young people are causing a demand for more Jewish experiences and more Jewish activities, what could be more important? This building is something we have to have because students are demanding it.”

Private fund-raising for the campaign is already under way, Getraer said, and the board is putting together leadership teams for the overall effort. “We’re going to tell the incredible story of success and Jewish renaissance that is happening here,” he said. “The point is to serve the needs of Jewish students and to engage them in Jewish life in ways that are going to be meaningful and valuable to them. I’m confident that people will want to support that effort.”

Statistics show that more than 85 percent of college-age Jews attend college, Getraer added. “It’s the number-one shared activity of the Jewish community,” he said. “It’s very satisfying to see that the Jewish community is beginning to appreciate that if we want to affect our future, we need to go where the young Jews are, and that’s the college campus.”

As for the young Jews who attend Rutgers, he said, “We’re probably about to do the most significant thing for them that can be done, and that’s very exciting.”