UI Research Park construction plans take shape

CHAMPAIGN Upscale apartments could be going up this spring in a new development at the southern entrance to the University of Illinois Research Park, but a retail component faces a tougher financial hurdle, developers say.

Meanwhile, park managers are exploring whether to invest more than $200,000 in an extension of Champaign-Urbana's Big Broadband network through the research park's newest phase to serve clients' growing data needs.

Plans for a retail-residential project at First Street and Windsor Road have been on the books for years but stalled in 2008 along with the economy. Conditions have improved, and construction of a major extension of Fourth Street through the park is nearing completion, opening up the east side of First to development between St. Mary's Road and Windsor.

Developer Peter Fox has been working with a university design review team on an 8-acre complex at First and Windsor.

Plans call for four residential buildings with 50-plus rental units set back from the corner, built around a water feature, and two retail buildings fronting First and Windsor with 10 units totaling 23,000 square feet. Site drawings unveiled this week show room for expansion to the north and east two additional residential buildings and two more 7,200-square-foot retail buildings.

The design review committee requested that some residential units be placed above the retail space; that some buildings be three stories and include a brick exterior; and that the retail buildings be pushed close to the street, with parking in the back, to create more of a community feel, similar to the Village at the Crossing.

Fox also hopes to make the development energy-efficient, possibly achieving LEED certification. Designs call for geothermal heating and cooling, solar panels on the carports, high-density insulation, green roofs, and a sustainable storm-water retention system.

Fox hopes to have the residential portion completed by the fall of 2013. To do that, he said he'd need to break ground by February or March.

But he's less certain whether the retail portion makes financial sense, given potential competition in the area and high construction costs relative to retail leasing rates of $15 to $16 a square foot.

Cost projections from UI Facilities and Services for extending the university's gas, electric, water and sewer lines to the area came in much higher than expected almost $977,000 compared with the $330,000 initially projected, said research park Director Laura Frerichs. The water feature in the current design requires a ring of utilities around the site, which pushed up the cost.

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UI Research Park construction plans take shape