Now that plans for the renovation of the Holmes Student Center tower have been approved in concept by the Board of Regents, NIU will move to develop more specific plans to submit to the board next month.

Conrad Miller, physical plant project manager, said the committee in charge of the tower’s renovation will meet next week to decide specific details for the tower, such as the shape of the dome to be built on the roof and the type of windows that will be installed.

Thursday’s Board of Regents meeting gave NIU the go ahead to enter into contract negotiation with Wares and Associates, Rockford, the firm that will design the tower’s new look, Miller said.

“We’ve got to get together and get input from the committee on what things they’d like to see and what changes are necessary,” he said.

The specific design, or schematic drawing, will be submitted to the Board of Regents’ facility/finance committee April 20 for approval and reactions from board members, Miller said.

He added the “meat of the (tower) project” will probably begin with brick removal on July 25 and subsequent installation of limestone. He said the construction would be done “some time in February.”

“But we hope to have some kind of visible improvement this year, with the construction of the dome starting July 3,” he said. “We want the students to see some of the results of their input (from the student forum).”

But Miller said the tower project would be “susceptible to impediments such as weather and material delivery.”

Work on the north portion of the student center will begin about June 20 with some brick replacement, caulking and panel reanchoring, he said.

Miller added he expects the tower’s brick replacement to begin at the top of the tower, removing brick and installing limestone on all four sides at once.

In a report submitted to the Board of Regents Thursday, NIU President John LaTourette stated the estimated $1,995,000 price tag for the tower renovation would come from revenue bonds.