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ISU to spend $28.5 million on renovation for Watterson Towers
By Michele Steinbacher
msteinbacher@pantagraph.com
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NORMAL -- Illinois State University will spend another $4.5 million on earlier approved projects and another about $28.5 million to renovate the 28-story Watterson Towers.

The campus’ board of trustees on Friday authorized using the majority of the extra funding for the Student Fitness and Kinesiology/Recreation Center, bringing that project total to $50 million.

“This is attributed to rapidly rising material and energy costs,” said ISU President Al Bowman. Spending more money wasn’t taken lightly, he said, but there was consensus that the design should stand.

“It is a significant project for the campus. … The feeling was, it really needed to proceed as planned, and we’ll tighten our belts in other places,” he said.

ISU’s baseball stadium will get another $200,000 for its expansion project, bringing that to nearly $3.2 million.

The board also OK’d a $3 million proposal to renovate University High School’s Stroud Auditorium, and to give the school a new roof.

Bowman told the board it appears ISU’s state appropriation for fiscal 2009 will be just under $86 million. That is a $2.1 million, or 2.5 percent increase, from last year. He said ISU raised more than $10 million in private donations during FY 2008.

For 2009, improving faculty and staff salary continue as Bowman’s top priority, he said. Other major concerns are propelling new academic programs, and tapping away at a $500 million list of deferred maintenance projects.

An unstable national and state economy calls for cautious budget decisions, he said. And declining state aid paired with increasing financial costs for the campus continues to be a challenge.

In the past few years, ISU has had to absorb new costs including employee healthcare premiums, about $5 million in monetary assistance program scholarships, tuition grants for U.S. veterans, and increasing energy costs, said Bowman.

The trustees’ approval of the $28.4 million Watterson Towers renovation means ISU now can plan for the updates. Construction bids should go out in the spring.

Key to this project will be a plan that doesn’t shut down the entire 28-floor structure. ISU housing space already has decreased with the closing of Dunn-Barton and Walker halls, so the disruption needs to be minimal.

Plans call for dividing work into 10-floor sections, keeping 18 floors available to student housing.

Work will focus on mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems for north and south towers. Exterior and interior spaces also will be updated, and buildings will be equipped with a new sprinkler system, and gain increased alarm systems.

Funding comes from auxiliary facilities system bond proceeds and reserves.

The tri-towers complex was the first of several long-term housing updated; Hewett Hall will be ready next week, Manchester Hall in fall 2009.

The trustees’ meeting, at the newly opened ISU Alumni Center, 1101 N. Main St., followed the center’s dedication ceremony. Trustees elected Judge Michael McCuskey as board chairman; and trustee Joanne Maitland as secretary.

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Reader comments on this story - 3 total

Note: All views and opinions expressed in reader comments are solely those of the individual submitting the comment, and not those of the Pantagraph or its staff.

ShishkaBoss wrote on Jul 26, 2008 5:16 PM:

" Why would you want it coming out of the pockets of some of the lowest paid college professors in the state? "

ThomasCrown wrote on Jul 26, 2008 2:52 PM:

" To Pontiac Resident: ISU students voted to raise their own fees to pay for this project. "

Pontiac resident wrote on Jul 26, 2008 7:46 AM:

" Hope this money is coming out of teacher pockets? "
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