Stopped Neil Street drivers getting eyeful of eyesore

CHAMPAIGN – If there's anything that makes the sight of a gaping, fenced-off hole on a prime downtown corner even more unfortunate, it's having one lane of traffic closed just north of the same corner, a city official says.

"Those are unfortunate combinations of things because people have longer to sit there, and they ponder the hole in the ground while they sit there," said Craig Rost, deputy city manager for development.

Rost said the Nov. 7, 2008 fire that destroyed the Metropolitan building that was under redevelopment at the southwest corner of Church and Neil streets has continued to be a big disappointment for the city, and any prospects for building something new there have been affected by the economy.

"We wish it looked better," Rost said. "We wish something was going on there.

"The property owners have done what they can do to maintain the property, so it doesn't look bad."

For now, the city can only wait for the economy to pick up and hope the public's patience holds. Rost said business downtown has held its own, and people have apparently understood that the economy is posing a challenge to redeveloping the fire site.

If the property is going to remain undeveloped for a number of years, Rost said, the city would prefer that the owners fill in the hole and bring it up to street level. But even that option doesn't come without complications.

Filling in the hole and planting grass there looks like everybody's giving up on redeveloping that corner, Rost said, and should a development prospect come along, "any dirt you put in there, you have to dig back out, and somebody has to pay for that."

For now, the downtown's visitors and work force can take comfort in knowing that lane closure will be opened up again shortly, at least until next spring when the streetscape work on the M2 development project at the northwest corner of Neil and Church streets is scheduled to resume.

"People have been pretty patient," Rost said.

Also on this date

• Compute this: Work on new UI facility ahead of schedule
• Arthur teen dies in rural accident
• Help desk for domestic violence victims launches Monday
• Fire spreads from garage to 2 other homes in St. Joseph
• One year after fire, Metropolitan site is still a mess
• Displaced by fire, law firm remains without quarters
• Champaign police group members defend its usefulness
• Fire destroys nine garages at Urbana apartments
• New UI trustees chairman didn't exactly have write stuff
• Obituaries

» More