CHAMPAIGN – A vacant Campustown building that long housed Bidwell's tavern and later Cochrane's tavern is expected to be torn down next year to make way for a five-story retail/office complex.

The three-story building at 619 S. Wright St. will likely come down "in the next couple of months" so construction on Campus Centre can begin, said Laura Pime of Northbrook-based Gregory Realty Group, which is developing the new building.

Pime said the company is close to signing a "gourmet" fast-food tenant for the first floor. The second floor is intended for retail space – perhaps a hair or nail salon – and the third through fifth floors are expected to house offices, she said.

Pime, a 2006 graduate of the University of Illinois, said she joined her father, a principal at Gregory Realty Group, after graduation. She said she remembered the building as Tonic nightclub and thought it would be "the perfect spot to build something."

The property is just north of Follett's bookstore and across the street from the UI's engineering buildings. Pime said she expects Campus Centre to be "a beautiful building that brings a lot of life to campus."

The building at 619 S. Wright St. dates from the early part of the 20th century. Jack Bidwell of St. Joseph said his grandfather, Roy Bidwell, moved in in 1919 when he came to Champaign from Indianapolis.

Roy Bidwell was one of five brothers who were candy makers in different towns. During the Great Depression, Roy's candy store in Campustown sold nickel lunches to stay in business, Jack Bidwell said.

After World War II, Roy's sons, Charles and Richard, took over and turned the business into a tavern whose patrons included veterans going to college.

"They also started doing plate lunches and breakfasts, all through the '50s," Jack Bidwell said.

He said his father, Charles, continued to operate the tavern on Wright Street, while Richard Bidwell opened his own place on South Neil Street in Champaign and later one at University and Cunningham avenues in Urbana.

When Charles' health deteriorated, Dick Bidwell took over management of his father's tavern on Wright Street.

"We stayed there until 1969, when we sold it to the Cochranes," Bidwell said.

He said the spot was popular with UI athletes.

"We helped a lot of football players through school," he said. "(Jim) Grabowski and (Dick) Butkus spent a lot of time there."

After the building was sold, it housed Whitt's End tavern for a time and Cochrane's tavern throughout the 1980s. The building was later occupied by the Orchid and Tonic nightclubs.

"It's a good old building," Bidwell said. "I'm surprised they're going to tear it down."