Renovation forces main building to relocate
By Brooke Fisher
Look out, student body, for another chaotic year. IVCC will once again be under construction.
Beginning in August, building C will be renovated, meaning the building will be closed and every office temporarily relocated.
The moves, scheduled to begin after graduation, will include the student service offices and even the vending machines, otherwise known as the "cafeteria."
Larry Rousey, director of facilities, updated the College Board at their March meeting on the relocation process that will be necessary to begin the Building C renovation work since Building C is the largest building on campus and houses all of the college’s primary student services.
"We made an effort to keep all of the student services that are vital to the college’s operation in places where they will remain accessible to students," Rousey said. "The relocation plans have been quite a challenge. We are using every possible square inch of the college."
When building C closes, students will continue to use the main lobby entrance. A door will be cut into the north wall of the link, near the current switchboard and security area, to provide access to a deck, yet to be constructed, that will lead into building E, where counseling is located.
Admissions and records, financial aid, the cashier’s office and other student services will be located in the counseling center during the renovation process.
The vending machines will move to the tunnel areas of the open buildings.
The part of the library located in building C will be closed, and much of the library equipment and materials will be moved into the library’s building A area. Access to the library will be from building A.
Rousey estimated that as many as 2,000 boxes of the less-often-used books would be placed in storage.
The Bookstore will move to the upper gym. The Assessment Center will be in the building D open computer lab. Computers in that open lab are being rearranged to allow for the construction of temporary offices.
Administrative offices, the public information office and the Business Training Center staff will move to the basement of Building D.
Construction is scheduled to begin Aug. 5. Rousey said the majority of the renovation project will be completed by May 2003.
Some offices will begin relocating after the May 17 graduation and moves will continue throughout the summer.
The college board approved the bid of $461,739 from D.J. Sickley Construction Co. in Peru for Building C’s relocation work.
Building C is the last of the three original buildings on IVCC’s 30-year-old campus undergoing renovation. Building A was renovated in 2000 and building B in 2001.
As in the first two buildings, the heating and cooling ducts will be replaced, and asbestos will be abated.
The C Building Asbestos Abatement / Supply and Return Ductwork Renovation Project will be paid for through a special $6 million appropriation from the state of Illinois. This is the college’s first special appropriation from the General Assembly.
FUTURE CAFETERIA PLANS
When building C reopens, the college plans to contract out the food service.
Rousey said the cafeteria area would remain relatively unchanged, but that computer services would eventually move into the kitchen area. A food service company could occupy the section that currently houses the Student Government Association office and a separate dining area.