Champaign, IL Relocating Please Tell All! (Chicago, Aurora: apartments, townhomes, neighborhoods)

[patval]

Hello and god day everyone, I just been offered a job in Champaign, IL and I wanted to know everything and anything about this area. I here it is about 3 hours from Chicago but it is referred as a suburb of Chicago I am confused if it is more then 1 hour awayhow can it be a suburb of Chicago.

Also I am looking into apartments and I have found two so far I like and they are The Westbury Park Townhomes and Wateredge Apartments. Has anyone lived here or knows anyone or anything about these places?


Oh yeah for like 2 or 3 months 5 to 6 days I week I am going to need to commute to Purdue University for work each day the drive seems to be almost 2 hours by Map Quest but my employers says 1 hour and half which one is it does anyone know? Should I live somewhere else maybe close to Indiana but still in IL?


Thank you,


Paul

[Paxtonian]

Champaign is no suburb of Chicago. Whoever told you otherwise is selling you a load a bunk. Also, their estimate of your driving time to West Lafayette is laughable. I live closer to there than Champaign and it'd still take me about an hour and a half to get there from here. In fact, if you need ready access to both cities you could do far worse than to move to my town, Paxton. Champaign is 25 miles south of here, West Lafayette is 75 miles east. The added time to get to West Lafayette from here is on account of having to take a somewhat complex route of country roads, the highways between Illinois and Indiana this way don't quite match up.

[Switch625]

Champaign is a great city. As Paxtonian says, it is in no way a suburb of Chicago. Champaign has a character all it's own. The urban area of Champaign and Urbana has a population of a bit over 100,000. When the students are here, that adds roughly 40,000 to the population. Suburbs, exurbs and bedroom communities add another almost 100,000 to the population of the area. Champaign-Urbana has one of the best bus systems around, which will get you anywhere in the city that is worth going to. There is an Amtrak station and an airport. A bus makes a regular run to the airport, and the bus system's main hub is the train station.

Westbury Park is in a good section of Champaign. You are close to the University of Illinois, but not so close as to be bothered by students. There is shopping and restaurants also close by.

Water's Edge Apartments is very close to the biggest shopping district in the area, north Prospect Avenue. Traffic is congested on north Prospect, but I doubt it would test someone who is used to the traffic in a major city. The neighborhood is good, but you should be aware that within a half mile the neighborhoods deteriorate.

[patval]

Thank you Paxtonian and Switch for the help so far it has been a great help!

I was wondering Switch when you said move a half mile one way you will see deteriorate what do you mean? Old Homes? Crime?

How about cost of living in this part of IL and weather as well?


Thank you,



Paul

[Paxtonian]

I know what he's talking about- there is a blighted area around Prospect just south of the Interstate. The area north of the Interstate is experiencing great growth, and is fast becoming the commercial center of Champaign (with a lot of residential development too).

[Switch625]

I apologize, I should have been more clear. The blighted area is separated from the new development by the Interstate, and that seems to be a barrier to the spread of blight. About a mile to the west is a low-income section of Champaign that is north of the Interstate, but it isn't terrible. Just a bit run down. Neither area will be a concern to you if you choose to live at Water's Edge Apartments.

[M TYPE X]

Stay south of downtown, and you're fine. The Bradley Avenue corridor is our "ghetto."
Southwest Champaign is somewhat akin in upper middle class suburbia, as is southeast Urbana.

It won't take a long visit to find what you like here.

[llama214]

Champaign is a great city and one of the best places to live in the state! It has a highly eduacted worforce, with a constant young and hip feel to it, but still has its great historic and more '50s touches. (much like Bloomington-Normal).

HA! A Chicago suburb! That is very funny! Like others have already stated, Bloomginton and Champaign are no knock off suburbs with little class. But I can see were the person that told you that might have been coming from. I know in places like Colorado and Uath, the main suburbs are big cities like Boulder, Ogden, etc., and the lovely Ft. Collins. In Chicago the suburbs are much smaller(only according to city size, if there weren't actual town borders it would be even larger than Chicago) and closer. This excludes Aurora, Joliet, and Naperville, that in no way have this status.

As far as the drive, this may become old after about a year. While Champaign is close'r' to the border, it is still a drive to the campus in WL. Being a graduate of IUPUI, and coming home to see the family in central Illinois, the drive can be dull. But WL is closer to Illinois than Indy. If you are looking to live in a really nice suburb of C-U, St. Joseph is an amazing little town, that has a high per captia income, and great sense of community. If I couldn't live in B-N, or C-U, I would feel very comfortable in this community.

Good luck and all the best!

[Switch625]

Considering I live in Saint Joseph, you won't find me disagreeing!

[Drover]

Yes, but have they opened that El Toro yet??