URBANA – Ramshaw Real Estate will begin marketing for development a 156-acre tract at the southwest corner of Philo and Windsor roads in Urbana.

The tract – directly west of The Pines shopping center and east of Meadowbrook Park – is the longtime home of University of Illinois apple orchards. Sometimes known as "the Pell Farm," it is owned by the UI Foundation.

Alex Ruggieri, a broker with Ramshaw Real Estate, told the Champaign County Economic Development Corp. board of directors this week that his company will launch a regional and national marketing campaign for the property on Monday. It will be listed for $3.2 million.

Ruggieri told The News-Gazette he could see a variety of potential uses for the property, including residential and commercial.

"It's very reasonable to think it's a good site for residential long-term, with mixed-use aspects to it as well," he said.

The property lends itself to open space, walking trails and other novel ways of "combining homes with nature," he added.

Libby Tyler, Urbana's community development director, said the city's comprehensive plan envisions community business along the east side of the Pell Farm tract, with the western portion devoted to a "conservation-style" residential subdivision and an expansion of Meadowbrook Park.

The pomology farm, meanwhile, has moved west to a 64-acre spread near Lincoln Avenue and Windsor Road, according to UI horticulture Professor Bob Skirvin.

Apple trees have been planted there, as well as peaches, apricots, pears, cherries, grapes, blueberries and other fruit.

In another development, Ruggieri told the board that Ramshaw is also marketing the Tile Specialists Inc. building on North Country Fair Drive in Champaign, in anticipation of TSI's move to the former Hamburg Distributing building in Champaign's Interstate Research Park.

Ramshaw Real Estate was one of six developers presenting updates at the economic development group's monthly meeting Thursday in Urbana.

Others presenting included:

Devonshire Realty

Redevelopment of the former White Line Laundry building on Champaign's South Neil Street is proceeding – but with a twist from what was originally envisioned.

Initially, building co-owner Janet Bubin had planned to open a natural and organic foods store and teahouse on the ground level, in addition to condominiums upstairs.

But Bubin, who also operates the Ko-Fusion restaurant in downtown Champaign, said she's "overloaded running the restaurant" and didn't think she could run both businesses.

Instead, Matt Wavering of Coldwell Banker Commercial Devonshire Realty is working to lease part of the first floor to two restaurants and a salon and spa.

Altogether, there's about 25,000 of retail and commercial space available, he said.

Apartments and condominiums on the second floor are "95 percent completed," he said, and one-, two- and three-bedroom units will be available.

Wavering said the units were built as condominiums but "could be rented."

He plans to start marketing the units in March or April, he said.

The project, now known as the "Whiteline Market," once housed the JBJ Fine Gifts store in the 700 block of South Neil Street.

Other projects marketed by Devonshire Realty include: the Clearview Commercial and Medical Office Park, which covers 370 acres near the interchange of Interstates 57 and 74; and the Pinehurst Commons and Pinehurst South office parks in the Boardwalk Drive area of north Champaign.

Fox Development

Masha Trenhaile, representing Fox/Atkins Development, said the Littelfuse building in the University of Illinois Research Park is expected to open March 1, with employees moving there from Arcola over the next couple months.

She said Fox/Atkins is also marketing the Gateway Building in the park – once the home of Motorola. Many of Motorola's former employees now work for Qualcomm and Yahoo, both of which have offices in the park.

Trenhaile said there was an effort to get Yahoo to join Qualcomm in the Gateway Building, but Yahoo elected to remain in its South First Street building.

She said the Gateway Building has an exercise facility with showers, a break room with a kitchen and a training room that can accommodate 120 – amenities shared by the building's tenants.

Jeff Mellander

Mellander said he plans to redevelop the Sagamore Publishing/Sports Publishing building on North Neil Street for apartments and commercial space.

The project is called "Hickory Street Trolley Barn" because the building's eastern portion, which faces Hickory Street, was used as a trolley car barn in the 1890s.

Mellander envisions 12 two-story loft apartments in the building.

About 10,000 square feet of commercial space will be available in the old trolley barn section on the building's east end, and two separate spaces of 3,000 and 4,500 square feet will be available on the west end.

The target date for the publishing companies' departure is May 31, and reconstruction is expected to take place over the following year, Mellander said.

JSM Development

Jill Guth of JSM Development said the company has renovated the former Illinois Disciples Foundation building at Wright Street and Springfield Avenue in Champaign for office use.

Now known as "University Place," the building will be marketed to businesses and organizations that want to be close to the UI's engineering campus.

The building has three floors, with 7,000 square feet available on each floor, she said.

Guth said the company has also assembled 3.2 acres southeast of the Interstate 74/Neil Street interchange for development.

She said the site would be "a great hotel location," but land across the street – where Gateway Studios has been located – has to be "rectified" before the land can be successfully marketed.

Craig Rost, Champaign's deputy city manager for development, said Guth would "get no argument from the city" about that.

Guth said JSM now has 1,000 apartments on the UI campus and 375,000 square feet of commercial and retail space. She said the company's Uptown Crossing mixed-use project in Normal is expected to be completed in August.

The Atkins Group

Mark Dixon, director of commercial real estate for The Atkins Group, said he's targeting breakfast places, florists, bookstores and hair salons for The Pines shopping center in southeast Urbana.

He said the company continues to have a few spaces of about 10,000 square feet available in the Mercury Warehouse in the Apollo industrial subdivision in north Champaign.

He said the company is also marketing light industrial properties in Interstate East, a development just east of Champaign's Interstate Research Park.