If a committee of the Board of Regents this week gives its expected approval of plans for the Holmes Student Center tower’s renovation, students will see a tower off-white in color with a square, enclosed roof section by mid-February of next year.

Although minor details regarding the tower’s design remain, the decisions made so far will be submitted to the Board of Regents’ Facility/Finance Committee Wednesday, said Conrad Miller, physical plant project manager.

“We really need their blessing because we’ll have to go back to the drawing boards if they don’t accept what we have so far,” Miller said.

He said the committee responsible for the tower’s design is looking into the possibility of placing a steeple on the tower’s roof, which would add about $50,000 to construction costs. However, construction costs would remain under the estimated $1,995,000 cost for the work, Miller said.

There is no reason to believe the construction costs will go beyond the original estimate,” Miller said. “But we won’t know the exact and final cost for the tower until bidding begins.”

Miller said the steeple would be used to enclose antennas presently located on the tower’s roof.

Still to be decided concerning construction is the type of windows to be installed, and the kind of covering that will be placed on the enclosure’s roof, Miller said.

He said the committee also is considering bronze-coated windows that open, because some student center patrons have “expressed interest in ventilation of the tower’s rooms.”

But he said NIU’s residence halls have “had problems with students throwing things out the windows, like bowling balls and chairs.”

Miller said there is a possibility that NIU will install some sample windows on lower levels of the student center, “so that people can look at them and decide on what they like.”

He said bronze-coated windows would result in energy conservation and lower utility costs. “The windows would reflect some of the sun glare, especially on the south side,” he said.