The Cambridge City Building Department will probably give the go-ahead to the University's application to build the Radcliffe gymnasium at Observatory Hill, an official in the department said yesterday.

After city officials received the application, Building Department officials reviewed it and drafted a reply to the University--to be sent out this morning--indicating that there is "no reason to nullify the application," William J. Fagan, a Cambridge City official, said yesterday. The worst that could happen would be a delay, "but not a rejection of the University's plans," Fagan added.

The University Planning Office has applied for the permit to build the new gym and tennis courts Friday morning, but no one in the office had received the city's reply as of yesterday, Michael Brewer, assistant vice president for community affairs, said yesterday.

"That's exciting. I'm delighted if they see fit to issue the permit," Burton I. Wolfmann, administrative dean of Radcliffe, said yesterday in response to Fagan's comment.

"We had planned to break ground last October so we could finish the gym in time for the beginning of the Radcliffe Centennial this September. May be now we can dedicate it by commencement next year, at the end of the centennial," Wolfman added.