Preliminary work has begun on the second University of Illinois residence hall planned for the Ikenberry Commons Student Housing Project in Champaign.

Millions of dollars in borrowing to support this latest phase of the Ikenberry Commons project will be reviewed by UI trustees when they meet Thursday in Chicago.

Ikenberry Commons, which will eventually replace all Champaign residence halls, is bordered by First and Fourth streets and Gregory and Peabody drives in Champaign. Trustees voted in 2008 to name the complex for Stanley O. Ikenberry, who was UI president from 1979 to 1995 and served as interim president in 2009-2010.

The initial phase included a new Student Dining and Residential Programs Building and the first section of Nugent Hall, which opened in fall 2010 with room for 150 students. The first floor of Nugent Hall is designed with state-of-the-art accessibility features, though other floors are open to all students.

Two additional wings for Nugent Hall are under construction and are scheduled to open in fall 2012, said Kirsten Ruby, assistant director of housing. Garner Hall will then be demolished.

Crews broke ground last month on Residence Hall No. 2, as it's called, at the corner of First and Peabody. It will be a six-story building with suites rather than standard dormitory rooms.

Forbes Hall will be torn down once that building is completed, in the summer of 2013, she said.

Eventually, Ikenberry Commons will include eight new residence halls to replace the Six-Pack (Forbes, Garner, Hopkins, Westin, Scott and Snyder halls) as well as Taft-Van Doren. Overall capacity will remain about the same, approximately 3,500 students, Ruby said.

The work is being financed by revenue bonds that will be repaid with student housing fees.

Trustees will act on a borrowing package Thursday that includes the latest Ikenberry Commons work as well as a restructuring of revenue bonds initially issued in 2001 for auxiliary projects on all three campuses. The refunding, which involves paying off the old bonds with money borrowed at a lower interest rate, is expected to save the UI about $1.9 million, said Robert Plankenhorn, director of capital financing,

The total, not to exceed $110 million, includes $64 million for building Residence Hall No. 2 and demolishing Forbes Hall; paying off $14 million in tax-exempt 2001 bonds; paying off $10.6 million in taxable 2001 bonds for projects that included a private or retail component, such as the Maxwell Street redevelopment in Chicago; $6.3 million to pay interest on the bonds until the new hall opens; and $1.5 million in borrowing costs (underwriting, legal fees and other professional services).

The board is scheduled to meet in open session starting at 9 a.m. Thursday at the UI Chicago Student Center West, 828 S. Wolcott Ave., Chicago.

Also on Thursday's agenda:

— The appointment of Laura Appenzeller Frerichs as director of the UI Research Park and EnterpriseWorks, at an annual salary of $130,005. She has held that job on an interim basis for the last month, and has been associate director of the research park since 2009.

The change is part of the UI's transition from a vice president for technology and economic development to a vice president for research, a position now held by Larry Schook. While retaining authority over the park, Schook wanted to give the research park manager more responsibility for the day-to-day operations and budgeting as his office focuses on broader efforts, such as more research collaborations among the campuses, Frerichs said.

— Approval of a land transfer from the university to the UI Research Park to allow development of a possible TechFab3 building east of First along Hazelwood Drive, the first building planned under a new developer agreement. The land has been part of the long-term plan for the park.

— Approval of Susan Koch as vice president and chancellor of the UI Springfield campus, effective July 1. Koch, currently provost and vice president for academic affairs at Northern Michigan University, Marquette, will be paid $220,000 annually.

She replaces Richard Ringheisen, who announced his retirement last year. The UI announced her appointment in early April.

— The appointment of Joe G. N. "Skip" Garcia as vice president for health affairs, beginning June 16. Garcia, who is the Earl M. Bane Professor of Medicine at the College of Medicine and vice chancellor for research at the UI Chicago, has held the vice president's job on a interim basis since February.

He will be paid $775,000 annually, which includes his $540,000 salary from the College of Medicine. He is also eligible for $200,000 in bonuses if he stays in the job through June 2015.

On the Web

For more on the Ikenberry Commons project: http://www.housing.illinois.edu/construction

For the agenda for Thursday's trustees meeting: http://bit.ly/m9BdZF