URBANA, Ill. (AP) – Fifty years after the University of Illinois opened an African-American cultural program, the group is moving into a new $5.9 million building.
The News-Gazette reports that construction of the 8,000-square-foot, glass-and-brick structure for the Bruce D. Nesbitt African American Cultural Center is nearly complete.
Center Director Nathan Stephens says a “soft opening” is planned this spring. A grand re-opening event will be held in the fall to commemorate the center’s 50th anniversary.
The cultural center was founded in 1969 as a home for black students but is open to all students.
The center has operated out of multiple locations. Its previous building was closed in 2014 for safety reasons and demolished in 2017. The center has since been operating out of temporary space in a campus recreation building.
