The long-awaited and much-discussed renovations to the venerated and dilapidated Lincoln Hall will begin this summer:
A long-awaited project for the University is set to begin next summer. Teachers, faculty and staff will move out of Lincoln Hall, 702 S. Wright St., with building renovations planned to begin fall 2008.
According to Linda Katehi, provost and vice chancellor for Academic Affairs, the project includes drastic changes on the inside of the building, as well as upgrading the building to make it more environmentally friendly. The renovations are slated to take two to three years to complete.
"While this may prove an inconvenience, this is a dream come true for all of us," Katehi said.
The project is going to cost about $70 million, Katehi said, and most of this money should be coming from the state.
"The state has promised they are going to fund it," Katehi said. "Even though the state budget has not been finalized, we thought we needed to make a decision to move forward (with the project)."
That seems awfully risky to me, given the recent track record of our State government with respect to keeping promises and delivering funding.
Are the plans for this renovation available to the public? I remember hearing years ago that the university was going to take out the stage in the Lincoln Hall auditorium. This stage has been and is used for many student productions, and has served as the starting place for many students interested in putting on entertainment productions. The loss of the Lincoln Hall stage and auditorium would be a great loss to students. Can someone investigate this; admittedly I can't because I have to study for exams. Thank you.
Risky is an understatement.
We also know that even if the State is going to pay for it, the payments will be delayed.
This was an issue during my Campaign and that was well over a year ago.
Seems like Naomi even posted a press release during the campaign that she got the money, but never did.
In light of his failure to even release the money for schools described by Mike yesterday, the Governor CANNOT be trusted to pay for this.
Is it actually on the budget now or was it part of the "cuts"?
The plans should be available for review at the Capital Development Office of the University, or possibly O & M, with requests seemingly being handled by the Academic Affairs office.
To that end, I am, and shall always remain;
Rex Bradfield
The question we all have is whether it was worth letting Emil Jones scalp the Chief for a new Lincoln Hall.
Good point, because if we don't get the money for Lincoln Hall, then we are the scalpees.
To that end, I am, and shall always remain;
Rex Bradfield
"The question we all have is whether it was worth letting Emil Jones scalp the Chief for a new Lincoln Hall."
Does Emil Jones work for the NCAA? Exactly what is your point?
It is incredibly risky! The university is planning to vacate Lincoln Hall and begin rennovations before they have any money in hand at all. What happens if there is no capital budget passed? Not only will Lincoln Hall not be rennovated, but it will no longer be usable to those who have been displaced. Why on earth would you start gutting a building before you actually have the money to make sure that you can rennovate it? Somebody at this university has way too much faith in Springfield.
"What happens if there is no capital budget passed?"
I'd say that it's likely that there will be no capital budget passed. And even if there is a capital budget passed, there's no guarantee that Gov. Blagojevich will ever release funds for a project like this. He's still withholding funding for some projects that were budgeted five years ago.
The UI has smarter people than me working on stuff like this, but this still seems awfully risky to me.
Are they going to vacate the whole building?
Last I remember, their previous plan (yeah, from years ago, so definitely YMMV) involved remodelling the thing in vertical "slices," so that only one part of the building needed to be closed at a time. It seemed odd to me then (why not just do individual floors at once?) and kinda still does.
Alas, I don't know where the plans are either, just commenting on a website on a slow day... :)
Yes, they are going to vacate the entire building this coming summer. They have to get everybody out so they can remove the asbestos safely.
I was reading the News Gazette today and on page A-3 at the bottom was a news article entitled
"Officials gather to call for capital bill's passage"
with the sub title
"Campus leaders waiting on Lincoln Hall funds"
At the bottom of the article, was a photo of the Officials
UI Chancellor Richard Herman, UI President B Joseph White, House Republican Leader Tom Cross, Danville Mayor Scott Eisenhauer (Republican candidate for the 104th District) and State Rep. Chapin Rose
Where was Naomi and Mike?
This was not a political gathering, it was a meeting of concerned officials, including the two most prominent U of I Leaders. I would think the Representatives of the party controlling the purse strings for the U of I should be there.
Makes the subject of this blog thread seem even more relevant.
To that end, I am, and shall always remain;
Rex Bradfield