The long-awaited El Centro building became open for classes the past Saturday on Sept. 20, and will have its official debut on Tuesday Sep. 30 which will include an opening ceremony and ribbon cutting.

It was a little over two years ago, when the lease for the previous El Centro building was running towards its end and talk about better facilities to fit the needs of NEIU students began. In finalizing the decision to buy the land on 3390 N. Avondale, the Board of Trustees authorized $28.5 million for use in the project.

From then on, it was left up to architect Juan Moreno and his firm to create the modernized and power-efficient building that stands today. As Moreno has said formerly in an interview with the Independent, “This building can’t be bashful, it can’t be a suburban solution where the parking lot takes prominence and then the building sits in the background. That’s not what this is about.”

NEIU’s family campuses have been invited to join in on the opening ceremony of the new El Centro through transportation of a shuttle service. Shuttles at the main campus will be leaving from Parking Lot – C at 12:30 p.m. with the expectation to arrive back at 3:30 p.m. While shuttles from the Carruthers Center for Inner City Studies will leave from the main parking lot at 12:00 p.m. and returning at approximately 3:45 p.m.

It is important to note that shuttle seats must be reserved in advance by Friday, Sep. 26 no later than 4:30 p.m. Students must send an email to Teela Williams ([email protected]) and include their full name, telephone number, and campus location.