A curve ball was thrown NIU’s way from Springfield earlier this year when Gov. Jim Edgar froze all construction funds and put the Faraday II building on hold.

Patricia Perkins, assistant to the NIU vice president of Finance and Planning, said everything was ready to go until Edgar was faced with a crunch and decided to hold back the $20 million they were counting on.

“The bids were out on the streets and we had to pull them back in when we heard the news,” she said. “A construction company had not been chosen yet and will not be until the bids are resent once the funds are given to us.”

Pat Hewitt, associate vice president of Business and Operations, said the news was disheartening after NIU officials held a ground_breaking ceremony for the new building in May, 1990, even though construction was not expected to begin until August or September.

NIU astronomy professor Dan Kaplan said he was disappointed when he heard the news.

“My office is pretty small and I was counting on more space in there and for my lab,” he said. “It took a long time to get those funds and it was taken away from us at the last minute.”

Hewitt said once the funds are released to NIU there will be even more delays.

“We are going to have to re_submit all of the bids which will take another few weeks, award the bids and then draw up a contract,” she said. “The longer the project, the longer the bidding process.”

Perkins said everyone is anxiously waiting to open the bids to the public and get things rolling again, but until the funds are released, they are at a standstill.

“We are all set to go, but nothing is going to happen until we get that money,” she said.

Chicago_based Holabird and Root, NIU’s architectural firm, will still handle the project as the building’s design is already complete.

Faraday II will be a four-story structure located west of Faraday Hall and south of Davis Hall. It will double the present building’s space. A walkway will connect the two buildings, and a new patio will join the mezzanines.