The University of Illinois Board of Trustees approved a $52 million budget for the University’s Altgeld Hall renovation and Illini Hall replacement projects. The overall cost of the Altgeld and Illini Hall project is $192 million, and the State of Illinois decided to contribute $140 million for the project.

These two projects are part of the Illinois Innovation Network, a University network that consists of industry-based hubs throughout the state working toward innovative and economic development. 

Altgeld Hall was opened in 1897 and was last renovated in 1956 and requires a new reconstruction along with a replacement for Illini Hall to accommodate the mathematics and statistics department. The new building replacing Illini Hall will include a data science center that will be a new hub for the IIN.

The Trustees have also given a construction contract to Williams Brothers Construction of East Peoria to expand the Ubben Basketball Complex at the University that is expected to be complete in August 2022. 

The expansion will cost $39.8 million and accommodate additional practice spaces, new coaches’ offices, meeting rooms, new sports medicine spaces, strength training and locker rooms.

The Trustees also approved a decrease in student health insurance rates for the 2021-22 academic year. This will lower insurance rates for students by $11 a semester, which will now be $712 for undergraduates and $916 for graduate students.

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