BLOOMINGTON (25News Now) – Illinois State University (ISU) on Friday agreed to purchase an old building on General Electric Road in Bloomington from insurance company Country Financial for $17.5 million.
ISU plans to make this the home of its new College of Engineering. The goal is to have students taking classes there in 2025, with a full move planned for 2026. The original plan was to renovate two buildings on campus.
“The amount of renovation that we have to do here is relatively small, so we can respond in a timely manner, we have the opportunity, and we can save a lot of money,” said ISU President Aundover Talfre.
ISU plans to borrow money for the purchase. When students come to pay their tuition fees, they repay their loans.
Tarfre said opening a new engineering school was always part of the university’s plans even before purchasing the building. The site includes a separate building that is not part of the Faculty of Engineering itself, but will house ISU staff starting in 2027.
The acquisition marks an expansion into Bloomington for the Redbirds. The original plan is to use a shuttle to shuttle students from the main campus to the engineering building.
Country Financial is selling buildings as the company has more hybrid workers after the pandemic. Three years ago, they decided to move many of their employees to the Towanda Avenue campus.
“We believe there is great power in bringing our employees together. We are now working differently and are dealing with hybrid schedules, so we believe in bringing our employees together for quality time together. It’s become even more important to spend time, so having it all on one campus makes it easier,” said Carl Bridges, senior vice president of Country Financial.
According to the escrow agreement at the time of purchase, Country Financial will retain ownership of the building until December 31, 2026. Insurance employees from IT and customer service departments still work in the building.
ISU and Country Financial plan to complete the sale on November 15th.
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