The Board of Regents approved Hoffman Estates’ land donation for NIU’s campus expansion Thursday.

The Regents voted unanimously to let NIU accept 3.9 acres of land donated by Hoffman Estates at their meeting in the Regency Room of the Holmes Student Center.

The land approval had been discussed in Wednesday’s executive session, which was closed to the public.

Executive Assistant to the President Anne Kaplan said all land acquisition items are discussed only in executive session.

The land is part of the Sears Roebuck and Company’s Park Center, which also will include hotels, shops, restaurants, conference centers and a recreational facility.

NIU President John La Tourette said, “This will be a showcase facility.”

Although Hoffman Estates offered the land last year on Sept. 17, legal paperwork and a complex approval process delayed acceptance of the land, Kaplan said.

“It’s a step we’re glad to have completed,” Kaplan said. The Regents’ approval was more of a formality, she added.

Regents vice chairman Clara Fitzpatrick made the motion for approval and it was seconded by Regent Milton McClure.

The Hoffman Estates extension caused controversy after it was announced last September when Roosevelt University and community colleges protested the move. The colleges said taxpayers’ money would be wasted because the satellite campus would repeat courses already offered in the area.

La Tourette countered the arguments by revealing that the project is completely privately funded and the branch campus will specialize in graduate studies.