Founded in 1867, Northeastern Illinois University continues to meet the demand for quality and affordable education – serving 12,000 students at the 67-acre main campus on Chicago’s north side and three additional campuses in the metropolitan area. NEIU is the most diverse university in the Midwest (according to U.S. News and World Report) and a federally-designated Hispanic Serving Institution.

The Utility Infrastructure Master Planning project involved the development of a utility master plan for the south campus development. The campus master plan anticipates approximately 900,000 square feet of new buildings including education, science, day care, administrative, parking, and residence hall buildings. Primera developed various schemes to serve the power, cooling, and heating function required of the campus utilities. To evaluate these various schemes, Primera completed a 50-year life cycle cost comparison analysis that involved conceptual design of the schemes, construction cost estimating, maintenance cost estimating, energy calculations for the future buildings, energy cost estimating, and net present value analysis. Primera developed an approach that will allow NEIU to implement the utility expansion in three phases over a 10 year period to coincide with the campus master plan.