When classes start this fall at Western Illinois University in the Quad Cities, all its students, teachers, and staff will be together on its riverfront campus. This week, employees are moving out of the building on 60th Street in Moline, and into the second new building on River Drive.
WIU spokeswoman, Kristi Mindrup, says the move will take 2 and half weeks, just in time for students to start the new semester.
"We're thinking about the logistics of things. Making sure that when one office is vacated, then we fill it in with another individual. It's a sort of lining up of the dominos and then hitting that first one and then watching the sequence of things happen after that."
Western broke ground for the 100,000-square-foot building about a year ago, just west of building one. Workers are still putting the finishing touches on the walls and floors. It features 23 classrooms, meeting space, laboratories, and a state-of-the-art library. Mindup says students, faculty, and staff are relieved because they'll all be in the same place,instead of split between two campuses.
"We continue to hear from students who are very excited to be some of the first students to ever step into the phase 2 complex, and I think one of the most exciting aspects of that is, from the very beginning, they helped us shape what this campus looks like, how the buildings take shape, and also everything inside of it."
WIU will close the 60th Street location to complete phase two of the riverfront campus plan. Faculty and staff will continue moving into the new building through August 25th, the first day of classes.