Senator Dick Durbin, the area’s Congressional representatives, state lawmakers and local labor and community leaders gather for a private meeting at Bradley University.
Bradley President Gary Roberts says the meeting allowed the University to share plans for its Business and Engineering Convergence Center with important people at the same time.
Roberts says if all the financing is in place, they’ll start the major building project next May. "We’ll be tearing down Baker Hall next summer, the summer of 2017 and then constructing 80 to 85-percent of the new building over the next two years. Then the last little tail of the building, which is where Jobst is now, will have to wait until we can tear down Jobst and the engineering people move into the new facility in 2019.”
Robertson says the Business and Engineering Convergence Center should be complete and fully operational in 2021. The project is expected to create up to 250 construction jobs.
Roberts says the new building will put Bradley on the leading edge of interdisciplinary education in two of its most programs.