It's now been 17 months since a fire virtually destroyed Lincoln University's Dickinson Research Center.
But Lincoln still hasn't started rebuilding, because its insurance company hasn't given the OK for that work.
"We continue to call and email them, but have not received anything firm yet," Sheila Gassner, LU's Facilities and Planning executive director, told the News Tribune last week.
A July 16, 2015, fire heavily damaged the plant science research center at the south end of the main campus, just east of Chestnut Street and north of Leslie Boulevard.
LU spokeswoman Misty Young reported then that the researchers were able to salvage some of their work and materials.
She said the chemical and hazardous materials clean-up took about two weeks after the fire, with the rest of the clean-up taking another couple weeks to complete.
Young said last year the clean-up costs were being "direct billed to the insurance company."
Lincoln officials opened bids for the Dickinson Center's reconstruction at the end of September, and sent that information to the insurance company - and that's where things remain.
Gassner told LU's Curators on Nov. 10 the situation has affected other budget issues involving Lincoln's five-year "facilities grant" for 1890 land-grant schools like LU.
"We're in Year Four of this grant," Gassner told curators at their November meeting. "We're a little bit behind (in using it) - and part of that is what's happening with Dickinson, and not knowing what's happening with that project."