Stepping inside the Barsema Alumni and Visitors Center from Annie Glidden Road, the roar of the street is replaced by the whine of vacuum cleaners. The smell of crisp fall air is replaced by new paint and fresh woodwork. The smooth marble floor, cream in color but covered by a thin layer of dust, nonetheless gleams in the sunlight.

Thursday, just 363 days after breaking ground, workers put final touches on the center, the newest addition to NIU’s family of facilities. A reception will take place at 11 a.m. Saturday when the building officially opens. A dedication ceremony will take place at 12:30 p.m.

The 40,000-square-foot building, funded entirely through donations by alumni, had an original budget of about $6.2 million, said Mike Malone, vice president of university advancement and development. Now that the building is nearing completion, Malone said donations have topped about $6.4 million.

“The construction of the center required about 2,200 individual donations,” Malone said.

The center is home to the Alumni Relations office, which houses the Alumni Association and the Student Alumni Association.

Malone led the Northern Star on an exclusive tour of the facility Thursday morning, highlighting the building’s main features.

Grover and Effie Johnson Ashelford Hall

Both ends of the hall serve as main entrances to the building from the east and west. The 24-foot-wide hall also serves as the focal point of the center, featuring numerous tributes to the almuni who made the center possible.

“We call this Main Street,” Malone said.

The center of the 2,600-square-foot hall bears the university seal, constructed in cream and black-colored marble and encircled by 18 tiles. The tribute is known as the Circle of the Seal and each tile represents a donor who contributed more than $100,000 to the project.