Tuesday, November 24, 2009 East Central Illinois
The Answer Book 2005
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Building boom on a record pace BY MIKE MONSON © 2009 THE NEWS-GAZETTE CHAMPAIGN - It might be a bit much to call Champaign-Urbana a boomtown, but the twin cities appear poised to undergo record growth in 2005 with the housing market thriving, commercial construction surging and new jobs being added. "I'm glad to see the success Champaign is having, and now Urbana is starting to grow fairly rapidly," Champaign Mayor Jerry Schweighart said. "I think one of the goals of all of us is to grow the entire county. "And the University of Illinois basketball team helped put the area on the map," he added. "A lot of people heard about Champaign-Urbana that hadn't heard about it before." While basketball success comes and goes, the growth the cities are seeing will bring permanent changes to the community. Champaign Planning Director Bruce Knight said the city set a record for new construction value last year and will likely smash that record this year. "The pace of growth really over the past two or three years has been phenomenal, and it certainly looks like it's going to keep going strong for a while," he said. The value of construction in Champaign for 2005, based on building permits issued as of June 7, was $94 million. That's closing in rapidly on the record total for 2004, which was $110 million. Things are also going well in Urbana, where the value of construction last year was a record $53 million. Through June, the city had issued building permits for $38 million worth of projects. Commercial projects in Urbana, in particular, are surging, with $23 million already committed in 2005, compared to $26 million for all of 2004. "The thing that distinguishes this year is that, while we've been in a boom for a couple years on the single-family side, this year we have a number of large commercial projects," said Bruce Walden, Urbana's chief administrative officer. Those commercial projects in Urbana include construction of the $20 million O'Brien Auto Mall near Interstate 74; construction of a new ALDI and Wal-Mart Supercenter in northeast Urbana; renovation of Lincoln Square Mall into Lincoln Square Village, with office, residential and commercial uses; and construction of the Stratford Residences, a planned $4.6 million 43-unit luxury apartment building in downtown Urbana at 202 N. Race St. New housing starts in both cities show continuing growth. In Champaign, 442 single-family homes and duplexes were built in 2004, an increase of 46 over the previous year. This year, through June 7, building permits for 328 homes and duplexes have been issued. In Urbana, permits for 71 single-family homes and two duplexes had been issued through May, compared with 161 homes and duplexes for all of 2004. Urbana Community Development Services Director Libby Tyler said new housing starts have averaged about 160 per year for four or five years, ever since the city began its Build Urbana program, which equalizes the property tax rates between Urbana and Champaign for the first five years of ownership of a newly constructed home. "Things seem to be coming together," Tyler said. "Urbana is getting better and better and our downtown is looking good; the same with Champaign." Ed Scharlau, vice chairman of First Busey Corp., parent of Busey Bank in Urbana, said Champaign-Urbana and Bloomington-Normal are the two larger communities in downstate Illinois that seem to be thriving. "I think an awful lot of it is due to having a major research university and health care," including Carle Foundation Hospital and Provena Covenant Medical Center, Scharlau said. He notes that the UI has a payroll of $708 million annually, while local health care has a $350 million payroll. Scharlau said that, based on Census Bureau estimates, Champaign County's population has grown by nearly 20,000 people, to 186,800, over the past 10 years. Here are some of the new projects and subdivisions in Champaign-Urbana that are fueling the record growth. In Champaign North Prospect Avenue is again a major site of construction. A Wal-Mart Supercenter across from the Beverly Cinema and was scheduled to open in late July. The 203,000-square-foot store will employ an estimated 350 full- and part-time employees. Construction of the Pinehurst Commons office park at the southwest corner of North Prospect and Olympian Drive was set to begin in July. A project of The Atkins Group, it will eventually cover 42 acres. Another Atkins Group project this year is construction of the Interstate East industrial subdivision, near Pinehurst and the existing Interstate Research Park. It will cover 40 acres, according to Mark Dixon, director of real estate, commercial and industrial, for The Atkins Group. Two major building projects are under construction in existing Atkins Group industrial parks. In the Apollo subdivision in north Champaign, a new $25 million, 155,000-square-foot Supervalu produce distribution center is expected to open in July or August. It will employ 110 people. It will consolidate the produce business from several Supervalu regional distribution centers. Under construction in the Atkins West subdivision is a 190,000-square-foot building for Patterson Companies Inc., on Duncan Road just north of U.S. 150. The $16 million facility, slated to be fully open by late this summer, will consolidate Patterson's two Champaign facilities and a labeling operation from Roselle. The company, also known locally as Colwell Systems, will employ 330 people overall. Champaign also is seeing considerable subdivision activity. The moderately priced Ashland Park subdivision is under construction in the North Prospect area. Another project of The Atkins Group, the subdivision has about 500 lots with 170 homes expected to be built there this year alone, according to Mike Martin, director of development at The Atkins Group. Martin said the strength of Ashland Park, where homes sell between $110,000 and $152,000, was shown this spring when four model homes were built and furnished for people to tour. "In 30 days, we sold 60 homes," he said. "I think the market's very strong and will continue to be so." The Atkins Group is also finishing up sales at more upscale Sawgrass subdivision, with 26 lots remaining in a 400-lot subdivision at Staley Road and Bradley Avenue. Fourplex homes sell for $130,000 there; single-family homes sell for up to $280,000. Just north of Sawgrass is the Boulder Ridge subdivision, north of Bradley Avenue and west of Interstate 57. About 150 lots have sold there, with homes in the $160,000 to $225,000 range. GAM Properties is developing the subdivision, which will eventually have about 800 lots and will be built out over the next 15 years, according to Greg Millage, president and owner of GAM Properties. In a recent move, local developer Paul Tatman purchased the old Chancellor Hotel and Convention Center, near the intersection of Neil Street and Kirby Avenue, in May. Tatman is considering the site for a hotel or retail development. In Urbana City officials are overjoyed to see the O'Brien Auto Park, a $20 million to $25 million project, finally under construction in north Urbana, north of Interstate 74 near U.S. 45. Once completed, the 42-acre site will be host to seven different dealerships Toyota, Chrysler, Mazda, Volkswagen, Mitsubishi, Kia and Hyundai. Three of those dealerships are currently at O'Brien's Champaign facility at 708 W. Anthony Drive, so the new auto mall will almost certainly generate additional sales taxes for the city. The auto mall is expected to open in April, with auto dealership facilities taking up 34 acres and the remaining property available for development, including some outlots that will be available for sale, said Jim Turner, a managing partner with the dealership. Turner said he expects the auto dealership to be a "regional draw" that should spark more development along the U.S. 45 corridor. "It'll be a lot easier to get into and out of," he said. "It'll bring a lot of traffic in that direction." Another long-awaited project under construction is a Wal-Mart Supercenter near the intersection of U.S. 150 and High Cross Road. The 217,000-square-foot store will have at least 400 full- and part-time employees and should open during the first quarter of 2006, according to Roderick Scott, community affairs manager for Wal-Mart. City officials expect the Wal-Mart to generate more than $500,000 annually in sales taxes. At the northwest corner of U.S. 150 and High Cross Road, a 15,000-square-foot ALDI discount grocery store is being built and should open in December. In downtown Urbana, at 206 N. Race St., the 43-unit Stratford Residences is taking shape and is scheduled to open by Aug. 22. The high-end brick apartment complex will offer rents between $675 and $950, with 37 of the units having two bedrooms and 16 offering balconies, said Raymond Timpone Jr., who is developing the project with his father, Raymond Timpone Sr. The 50,000-square-foot building will also have 2,000 square feet of ground-level commercial space. Timpone Jr. said he is looking to rent the space to a coffee shop. Another downtown project under way is the remaking of Lincoln Square Village, formerly known as Lincoln Square Mall. The $10 million project will remake the 1960s-era mall into a mix of office, retail and apartment uses. By this fall, 550 employees of Health Alliance Medical Plans and Carle will be working out of the remodeled mall on all three levels. Retail areas will be added along the former east frontage and the west interior frontage of the former Bergner's store. And, by August 2007, between 20 and 40 loft and garden apartments will be added, according to Jim Webster, owner and manager of the New Lincoln Square LLC. Carle Foundation Hospital is in the midst of a $48 million expansion that will be completed, for the most part, in late 2006. The project will add five levels to the hospital's North Tower, making it 11 stories, for use by obstetrics and gynecology patients. A three-level structure will be added on the west side of the North Tower to allow for expansion of the hospital's surgical area, allowing more space for post-recovery care and enlarging waiting and consultation areas for family members. The hospital's emergency department was also expanded to include a new waiting room, 12 additional examining rooms, two pediatric-specific rooms and an enlarged trauma area. The work was finished in June. Carle Foundation Hospital is the region's state-designated Level I Trauma Center. Another Urbana project under way is a Walgreens drugstore and a 25,000-square-foot strip center under construction at the northeast corner of University Avenue and North Cunningham Avenue, also known as Five Points. Being developed by Paul Tatman and Jim Burch, the $7 million project should open by October. Tatman is also developing a residential project called Prairie Winds on 30 acres along East Colorado Avenue, near Philo Road. It will include 30 single-family lots, 42 condominium units for those 55 and older and a senior apartment complex with 80 units. The Atkins Group is also active in Urbana, where the development company is based. The company will offer 88 lots for sale this year in phase two of the luxury Stone Creek subdivision in southeast Urbana. The lots will sell for $40,000 to $100,000. The Atkins Group is also marketing two- and three-bedroom zero-lot-line homes, for between $152,000 and $175,000, in the Ridge subdivision just west of Stone Creek near Amber Lane and Myra Ridge Drive. Twenty-five units are for sale. The Stone Creek Commons office park is also based in Urbana, at the southeast corner of Philo and Windsor roads. The office park, where The Atkins Group is based, has 18 lots. |
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