Clark Dietz engineering firm moving to downtown Champaign

CHAMPAIGN – Clark Dietz will move its local office to downtown Champaign later this year, the engineering company confirmed this week.

The company, which has had offices at 1817 S. Neil St., C, for about 20 years, plans to relocate to the first floor of the Church Street Square building – the former Robeson's department store at Church and Randolph streets.

Building owner David Meyer said Clark Dietz has leased about 12,000 square feet, or the entire first floor except for the Peking Garden restaurant.

Pavlov Media, which was formerly on the first floor, has moved to the second floor, where it has expanded to 16,000 square feet, Meyer said.

Charles "Chip" Craddock, manager of the Clark Dietz office in Champaign, said the engineering firm needed to make some changes after 20 years in the same space – but didn't want to remodel its office while occupying it.

Plus, the company liked the idea of being in downtown Champaign and reusing an old building, he said.

With all the emphasis on sustainable development, "that's as sustainable as you can get," he added.

Company President Ken Nelson called the move "a very, very positive event for Clark Dietz to get downtown and be a part of the continued revitalization of downtown."

The firm has about 45 employees in Champaign, with a staff that includes civil, transportation, electrical, mechanical and structural engineers.

Altogether, Clark Dietz employs more than 150 at its offices in Champaign; Chicago; Evansville, Ind.; Indianapolis; Kenosha, Wis.; and Wausau, Wis.

The company was established by three University of Illinois engineering professors – James Clark, Eugene Daily and Jess Dietz – and was incorporated in Urbana in 1953.

About 27 percent of the company's work force is minority or female, and those groups represent about 20 percent of the firm's shareholders, according to the firm's Web site.

Once the changes at Church Street Square are complete, Clark Dietz and Pavlov Media will be the building's two major tenants.

Pavlov Media, which provides Internet, phone and cable TV service to apartment complexes and other sites in 30 states, employs between 50 and 60 in Champaign, CEO Mark Scifres said.

The move upstairs provided the company not only with office space, but also warehouse facilities, he said.

THQ Inc., the parent company of Volition Inc., has been leasing part of the third floor of Church Street Square for a quality-assurance facility. But THQ announced in March it would close the facility and lay off 86 employees starting in May and continuing through September. As a consequence, Meyer said he expects 11,500 square feet on the third floor to be available for lease.

Church Street Square has several smaller tenants on the third, fourth and fifth floors and on the lower level.

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