Demolition to start soon on Forbes Hall

Photo by: Darrell Hoemann/The News-Gazette

Forbes Hall will be demolished soon as the next phase of the Ikenberry Commons project.

CHAMPAIGN Demolition will start soon on Forbes Hall, one of the five remaining dorms in the old "Six Pack" complex, to pave the way for a third new residence hall in the Ikenberry Commons housing redevelopment.

Construction on Residence Hall No. 3 is scheduled to start next spring at the corner of First Street and Gregory Drive, the northwest corner of the commons. The site has been fenced off and demolition will get underway within the next two weeks, officials said Thursday.

The $80 million project was approved in March 2012 and calls for a four-story residence hall with 497 beds, as well as a new stormwater detention system in the west playing fields across First Street.

Initially that work included new artificial turf on the eastern half of the playing fields, but trustees last week increased the project budget by $3.17 million to extend the new turf to the western half as well so the fields can be used year-round. The Division of Campus Recreation agreed to pay for the full installation of the turf, and its contribution will cover contingency funds and professional fees associated with the work, officials said.

The $80 million price tag also includes demolition of Taft-Van Doren Halls at 1213 S. Fourth St., which eventually will be replaced by new residence halls as part of the massive 14-year Ikenberry Commons redevelopment.

Named in honor of former UI President Stanley Ikenberry, the commons will include eight new residence halls to replace the Six Pack (Forbes, Garner, Hopkins, Scott, Snyder and Weston halls) and the Taft-Van Doren halls. Overall capacity will remain about the same, approximately 3,500 students.

The complex is bounded by Gregory Drive, Peabody Drive, Fourth Street and First Street in Champaign. The redevelopment is intended to transform the site into a neighborhood-like setting, relocating parking and adding covered bike storage and landscaping features.

Garner Hall was demolished last summer. The Student Dining and Residential Programs Building and Nugent Hall have been completed, and a six-story residence hall, Bousfield Hall, will open in August at the corner of First and Peabody Drive. It's named for Maudelle Tanner Brown Bousfield, the first African-American woman to graduate from the Urbana campus.

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Demolition to start soon on Forbes Hall