It's Your Business: Remodeling to help market ex-Rhodes site
After noticing some construction activity at the former Rhodes Furniture store in Champaign, a reader e-mailed The News-Gazette wondering if we might find out what's happening there.
Here's the scoop.
We called building owner Tim Harrington, and he reports that he and other investors are remodeling the building at 912 W. Anthony Drive to help market it to potential tenants or buyers.
Harrington, a principal at The Devonshire Group, bought the building in March 2007 with several others as part of Champaign Ventures LLC. Rhodes closed in 2005.
The 3.7-acre site used to have a showroom building about 43,000 square feet, but the new owners demolished that portion after buying it. They kept the 29,000-square-foot warehouse portion "because it was a good structure with high ceilings, and it could be added on to or converted to any sort of combination of retail or warehouse," Harrington said.
Harrington said there are several options for the space, including adding on south of the remaining building or selling the 1.3-acre lot separately.
"We decided to be proactive with the property so we have decided to really perform exterior building improvements to the building," Harrington said. The investors are adding a storefront, painting the exterior and adding awnings.
Construction is expected to wrap up in the next 30 days.
Readers, anything else you wonder about the status of? Send us an e-mail, and we'll see what we can dig up.
Free parking
Downtown Champaign businesses this summer are expected to start offering parking validations for the new Hill Street parking deck.
A pilot program with Jim Gould restaurant, 1 E. Main St., begins this week. Owner Jim Gould said the restaurant is offering the validations to diners with a paid meal, and the restaurant will validate up to two hours of parking in the garage.
When you drive into the Hill Street parking deck, you will press a button to receive a ticket, explained Stacy Rachel, administrative services supervisor with the city of Champaign.
When you're leaving, you enter the ticket, the amount owed will be shown, and then you enter your validation chit. That ticket will take off the amount, she said.
Parking costs 75 cents an hour in the deck, with the total daily fee capped at $7.50.
"I think it's going to be huge. It's such a positive way for people to get used to using the parking deck," said Mary Dennis, executive director of the Champaign Downtown Association.
"We've heard from guests that they don't mind the 75 cents to park," Gould said. But if they end up parking at a street meter, stay a little bit over the time and get a ticket, it puts a damper on their downtown experience, he said.
As for how business at the restaurant is going, Gould called it "solid."
"In fact, we've expanded our opportunities," he said, adding that the restaurant expects to be busy this summer offering catering services.
New businesses
Provident Financial Group LLC, which opened in April at the Village at the Crossing in Champaign, is hosting a grand opening celebration and open house on Thursday.
The open house will be from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. at 3017 Village Office Place, C.
The financial advisement firm's managing partners are Eric Boland, Charles Lee IV, Starla Carr and Robert Meyer.
Another new business in the area is Sunrise Debt Solutions. Owners Eric and Deb Bramowicz, reachable at 390-4788 or http://SunriseDebtSolutionsUSA.com, offer debt settlement services. They focus on settling unsecured debts, which includes credit cards, department store cards and medical bills.
"We have ourselves dealt with credit card issues in the past decade," Eric Bramowicz said. And because many other people are struggling with similar issues, that prompted the couple to establish the business, he said.
The company launched June 1.
Are you opening a new business or changing an existing business? Christine des Garennes can be reached by phone at 351-5388 or 800-252-3346; by e-mail at cgarenne@news-gazette.com; or by regular mail at The News-Gazette, c/o It's Your Business column, P.O. Box 677, Champaign, IL 61824-0677.
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