Buoyed by support from the university president and a continuing upswing in private donations, the University of Illinois Springfield has decided to go ahead with plans for a Student Union building on campus.
Solicitations for bids were posted about 10 days ago and are due in early December, said Chuck Coderko, director of construction for UIS.
"This is a very important project for the university, and President Tim Killeen believes deeply in this project," UIS Chancellor Susan Koch said. "It is central to the growth priorities of the university, and he has encouraged us to move on."
Koch said having a Student Union will help attract new students and improve the quality of campus life for existing ones.
The $20 million Student Union project, approved by a vote of the student body in 2012, isn't a state-funded project, although uncertainty over state funding for the university caused a construction timetable to be delayed earlier this year.
Groundbreaking originally had been scheduled for May but instead is now likely for May 2016, Coderko said. Completion is anticipated in January 2018.
This story appeared online in The State Journal-Register on October 15, 2015.
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