Columbus State University is finalizing plans to move its College of Education and Health Professions to its downtown RiverPark campus.

The move will expand the university’s downtown footprint, that already includes about a dozen buildings, with an additional 1,800 students, faculty and staff and its nursing school.

The college will be housed at the site of the former Ledger-Enquirer newspaper building, which was purchased by the university’s foundation just before Christmas. That building will be demolished and replaced with a new building that Columbus State hopes to occupy by fall 2016.

The university has raised $18.5 million toward the project that is expected to cost $25 million.