NIU's Cole Hall to get a $9.5 million renovation

A $9.5 million budget has been approved for the renovation of Cole Hall, the site of the deadly campus shootings at Northern Illinois University in February 2008.

The college's board of trustees recently approved the budget amount, setting in motion plans to hire an architect and an engineer to redesign the space.

NIU spokesman Joe King said the plans are still "very preliminary" and no decision has been made as to the future of the east auditorium, where a deranged gunman open fire, fatally shooting five students and injuring 21 others before committing suicide.

"It will not be turned into classroom space," King said. "Exactly what it will be is still up in the air."

This past February, on the one-year anniversary of the tragedy, a large, permanent outdoor memorial garden was set up next to Cole Hall to remember the victims.

However, Cole Hall itself has sat empty and locked since the shootings.

In July, the state agreed to give NIU $7.8 million toward the project from its capital improvement fund. It's unclear exactly when that money will be available, but it will cover roughly 82 percent of the project's cost. The remainder will be paid for by NIU, King said.

Cole Hall, which consists mostly of two large auditoriums, was built in the 1968 and has never had any significant renovations.

University officials say it will be at least a year until work actually begins on the building.