CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (WAND): The southern part of downtown Champaign could soon look very different.
"We have about eight to ten acres of ground available to us here," Hans Grotelueschen, the projects developer, says.
The vision? A new hotel, apartments, office space, retail space, parking, and possibly even a hockey and event arena.
"People like to be in downtown Champaign," Grotelueschen says. "There are, by my last count, 36 restaurants and bars that seat 6,000 people. We think guests like to stay in that kind of an entertainment district. We also have requests from businesses in downtown for office space in downtown Champaign."
The original proposal was for the north side of Champaign. After the Illinois Terminal announced an expansion, the developers decided to combine their projects.
"Having the kind of development that we're talking about right here, associated and attached to our main transit hub allows us to be efficient in the best way we can be," Karl Gnadt, with the Champaign-Urbana Mass Transit District, says.
The developers hope to add a hockey and event arena that would seat 5,000 people. But that will only happen if the University of Illinois starts a hockey team and would use the downtown arena as their home base.
"If the U of I chooses to be here they've got Chicago, which is a big fan base, and it's a big hockey fan base," Gnadt says. "All those folks can hop on Amtrak, ride down here, get off in our building, the hotel is right there on site."
The arena would include basketball, volleyball, and gymnastics.
"This is such a win, win, win scenario and those are rare when those come along," Gnadt says.Â
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