The building of the Northern Illinois Proton Therapy and Research Center (NIPTRC) , 777 Discovery Drive, West Chicago, will remain unfinished for the original finish date of spring 2011.

The project is currently in a “holding pattern”, said NIPTRC PR Liaison Gary Mack.

The certificate required for the construction of the center has expired, and the group has to go back in front of the Health Facilities and Services Review Board in order to get recertified, Mack said.

The original certificate, granted on Feb. 26, 2008, gave the group 24 months in order to construct the center and begin to treat patients. The certificate expired because the center was not completed within that time line.

Mack said the group will be going back before the Health Facilities and Services Review Board in order to get re-certified. He added that it is unknown when the group will go back to the board, but said that it could be “a few months yet.”

Once the group reapplies for certification, he said it is unknown how long the process will take. The board may require more information from them or even hold the recertification to a vote, Mack added.

The $159 million project was supposed to be funded with tax exempt bonds issued by the Illinois Finance Authority. However, up to this point, no bonds have been sold, Mack said.

“It has been inappropriate for the group to get to market,” Mack said. The bond market has been bad due to the current economy, and there were no investors, he added.

The market is beginning to become viable again, Mack said. But it’s a “moot point” because they cannot sell the bonds until they get recertified by the State Health Planning Board, he added.

At the Board of Trustees meeting Thursday, the board voted on releasing $2.2 million from a $934 million grant received from the U.S. Department of Defense. This money was approved to be used for the NIPTRC to work in conjunction with Argonne National Laboratories, 9700 S. Cass Ave., Argonne and Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, Kirk Road and Pine Road, Batavia.

Currently, the preliminary ground work on the NIPTRC has been completed. The utility lines, sewage and the preliminary foundation work have all been installed, but no other progress has been made, Mack said.

While the original expected opening of spring 2010 is no longer feasible, it is unknown when the center will be opening.

“Until that [recertification] process is completed, it is premature to talk about any construction time line,” Mack said.

While the NIPTRC is in a “holding pattern,” the Central DuPage Hospital (CDH) Proton Center, a ProCure Center, 4455 Weaver Parkway, Warrenville, is completed and now open. Construction on the two centers, which are about six miles apart, began at around the same time; however, the CDH Proton Center is completed while the NIPTRC is not.

The people at the NIPTRC have known all along about the proton therapy center at CDH, and that never impacted their plans, Mack said.

While the time line and dates of completion remain unknown, Mack said that the group will continue to work to build the center.

“All of the folks involved in the proton therapy center are committed to seeing it built,” Mack said. “We’re still planning on moving ahead with the plans.”