ITHACA, N.Y. -- Right now it's just empty space, but come April, the Finger Lakes Wine Center will be opening in the Cayuga Street Garage.

If a liquor license is granted soon, the opening may be earlier, but organizers said they want the opening to coincide with the tourism season.

"This is really designed to be a wonderful tourist attraction. Tourism is a major aspect of our industry here in Ithaca, a major aspect of commerce here so by adding this wine center to the repertoire of what we have to work with here in the Ithaca area, this will only help enhance tourism," said Gary Ferguson, executive director of the Ithaca Downtown Alliance.

Ferguson said the main goals of the center are to educate people about wine making and wine tasting.

Wine Center board members said it won't compete with the more than 100 wineries in the Finger Lakes region, but will instead compliment them.

"We're going to be encouraging tourists to visit the individual wineries by providing explicit information about the wineries. We will not be selling wine by the box, by the case, we expect to provide no competition whatsoever to the existing infrastructure and that includes wineries," said David Sparrow, board president for the Finger Lakes Wine Center

The board wants wine tours to start at the new center so that it acts as a hub for tourists to begin experiencing local wineries.

"People will actually seek Ithaca out as a specific destination to begin their exploration into the Finger Lakes wine region," said Fred Bonn, a member of the Finger Lakes Wine Center Board.

Construction of the center is expected to begin in January. The project will cost an estimated $595,000 and funding comes from the state, the county, private fundraising and grants.