Illinois State starts demolition of old dorms

NORMAL, Ill. (AP) - Demolition has started on a pair of old dormitories at Illinois State University.

David Gill is director of facilities planning at Illinois State in Normal. He tells The Pantagraph in Bloomington (http://bit.ly/1Pe5xJK ) that work has begun with the dining hall that sits between the two closed dorms.

Gill says that work will be followed by demolition of the Whitten-Hamilton and Atkin-Colby residence halls. All the work is expected to be done by May. The cost of tearing down the buildings is $3.9 million.

The dorms have been vacant for three years.

The university plans to build a new home for its Mennonite College of Nursing on part of the site. But it isn't clear when that work will begin.

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Information from: The Pantagraph, http://www.pantagraph.com