(RALEIGH) -- A hard-fought battle to turn the sprawling Dorothea Dix campus in Raleigh into a city park is now a done deal.

Governor Bev Perdue signed the paperwork during a ceremony at the state capitol on Friday. Perdue praised the Dix Visionaries, who worked for years to make it happen.

“To the visionaries! All of you. You all were relentless, you were persistent, you were persuasive, and you convinced a lot of people about the promise of the future of this great park.”

The state-owned land will be leased to the city of Raleigh for 75 years at a cost of 68 million dollars.