I didn’t know that about OSU band. Brutal.
Loomis Laboratory at Illinois definitely isn’t new, but I understand the adjacent lab buildings have some very impressive new spaces that are state of the art, supposedly with equipment available to undergrads only available in a few other universities. Parents didn’t get to tour it, but the students did. The people running the Illinois undergraduate physics program were also very impressive. I had the impression it was a lot like a smaller college inside a very big one.
Minnesota totally gutted the Physics building on the main quad and it’s supposed to re-open this fall. Probably also a nice perk for incoming students and for recruiting faculty.