The move in has begun.

The first two trucks of furniture were moved into the Doudna Fine Arts Building on April 1, said Steve Shrake, associate director of design and construction.

The furniture was moved into the B and C buildings, which house the music and art departments.

On March 30, Eastern Building Service Workers waxed the floors in the buildings to prepare for the furniture, said Jeff Cooley, vice president for business affairs.

The personal belongings of the professors in the Art Department, currently housed in Lawson Hall, will be moved into their offices in the Doudna Fine Arts Building on May 5.

“They won’t necessarily be moved in, but at least their property will be moved into their offices,” Shrake said.

The rest of the building will be moved in during the summer, Cooley said.

A conference call with the Capital Development Board was held last week to help plan the completion of the project.

“It is important to coordinate the move and what we need to do to complete that project,” Cooley said.

The Capital Development Board currently holds the deed to Doudna.

Eastern will finally own the building this summer, when substantial completion of the building is complete.

The Capital Development Board manages construction projects for the state of Illinois and oversees design and construction on elementary, high school and university facilities, as well as museum and historic sites.

The total cost for completing Doudna, including furniture, fixtures and equipment, is estimated to be $63 million. Construction costs had been estimated at $45 million.

Currently, contractors are working overtime in order to complete the project by May, Cooley said.

“You may see gates open in the evenings but that is because contractors are in their working late in the evenings and working evenings and working overtime,” Cooley said.

Before the project is officially completed, the campus architect and engineer will walk through the building, identify unfinished items and put together a punch list.

The punch list will include any broken items, like a window that is currently broken on the east side of the building.

They want construction to be done before they replace the window, said Gary Reed, director of facilities planning and management.

The punch list has been completed in the B and C sections of the building, Shrake said.

Once construction is completed, the university will start programming events for the venue. Fundraising for the building has focused primarily on programming.

Within the next few weeks, the university will make an announcement regarding its New and Emerging Artists Series, said Jill Nilsen, vice president for external relations.

The series was created to bring in artists in creative writing, theater, music and arts to perform and teach at Doudna.

Doudna will include:

State-of-the-art computer labs

Graphics design drafting labs and studios

Well-equipped studio space for metals, printmaking, drawing, painting, sculpture, ceramics and teacher education

New percussion labs

Electric piano, music and keyboard labs

A new band, choral and orchestra rehearsal studio

Expanded music library and music practice space

Renovation of the Dvorak Concert Hall

Conversion of the main stage theatre to a second recital hall

A new movement studio

Expansion of scene and costume shops and related storage space

A new 275-seat proscenium theatre

Studio theatre (black box)

150-seat lecture hall

Nora Maberry can be reached at 581-7942 or noraemaberry@eiu.edu.

A CORE construction worker puts the finishing touches on the Doudna Atrium window, located just outside of the Concert Hall. Sections of Doudna are being finished this month, and a potential move in has been scheduled for May. (Bryce Peake/The Daily Easte

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