* The Chicago Tribune in 2022…

The elegant sights and sounds of the Capitol will soon be masked by dusty specks of brick and mortar and blaring power tool drills as the 19th century symbol of state government business undergoes a massive renovation this year to meet 21st century needs. […]

The renovation is focused on the building’s north wing and will include an underground parking garage and an underground conference center, and a two-level welcome center for visitors.

In addition, there will be updates of everything from heating and cooling systems to plumbing and ventilation. […]

Prep work for the project began last year and the underground parking garage should be completed by early 2023, according to Aggertt’s office.

The preliminary work includes asbestos abatement in parts of the building. In June, some legislative staff and other employees will be moving to other offices and won’t be able to return until January 2025, around the time the project is slated for completion.

* Capitol News Illinois this morning…

Nearly five years after construction crews started moving dirt on the $350 million renovation of the Illinois State Capitol’s north wing, there are finally glimmers of light at the end of the tunnel.

The massive project, which included a rehab of the Illinois Senate chamber, construction of a new underground parking garage and conference room and the creation of a new main entrance with enhanced security features, will wrap up “sometime this winter,” Architect of the Capitol Andrea Aggertt told Capitol News Illinois in an interview this week. […]

There’s been progress: The Senate returned to its refurbished digs on schedule in January 2025. And the $46 million, 435-space parking garage for legislators and staff opened this spring — more than two years later than anticipated. Under the updated timetable, the entire project will be complete about two years behind schedule. […]

Labor shortages attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic and a scarcity of specific materials necessary to renovate a 150-year-old building contributed to the slowdown, Aggertt said. Not to mention the weather. Multiple heavy rain events this summer set the construction timeline back another several weeks. And then there were several unanticipated “surprises” that Aggertt and her team were confronted with as construction progressed.

Among them: The discovery of wrought iron trusses that were apparently hidden behind walls for more than a century. Their presence was not even unearthed during the last major renovation of the north wing in the 1970s. But the trusses, it turns out, play a critical role supporting the Capitol’s mansard roof. […]

Aggertt said there’s no funding allocated yet for future work, but she said the building’s east wing will need a refurbishment like the north wing within the next decade. They’ll soon need to replace the roof of the Capitol dome, which hasn’t had any major work done on it since the 1970s.