Feedback sought for proposed redevelopment of Orchard Downs
By Sharita Forrest, Assistant Editor 217-244-1072; slforres@illinois.edu
Two development teams competing for the opportunity to rehabilitate Orchard Downs recently unveiled their proposed plans at two events on campus. The UI Board of Trustees approved five developer candidates in September, but three teams have since dropped out. The remaining teams, Devonshire Development and Vermilion-Fox-Atkins, presented their designs at a May 2 forum at Beckman Institute and exhibited them May 16 at the Alice Campbell Alumni Center to collect public feedback. Both teams’ plans for the 160-acre site – bordered by Race Street, Kirby Avenue and Windsor Road in Urbana – included a mixture of retail space and residences for an intergenerational community comprising graduate students and their families, alumni and adults over age 50. Both proposals contained numerous parks and green spaces with native plants, ponds, and bicycle and walking paths; “green” technologies such as rain gardens, geothermal systems and photovoltaic systems; community gardens and farmers markets. A focal point in both plans is the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, a center that will provide educational programs and health and wellness activities for adults over age 50. While the Vermilion-Fox-Atkins team’s plans included all new housing, the Devonshire team recommended enlarging and updating the 780 existing units with amenities such as air conditioning. Demolition and new construction would destroy many of the site’s trees, the Devonshire team said. The Vermilion-Fox-Atkins group’s concept was a “walkable garden community” comprising 57 acres of public open space, including a prairie meadow, and sheltered playgrounds, with Orchard Street reconstructed into an arc to intertwine the new development with the UI Arboretum to the west. The community would contain 960 new single-family houses, duplexes and apartments for a total population of 1,800 – 2,000 residents, about 20-25 percent more people than currently live there, and about 36,000 – 38,000 square feet of retail space. The plans involved a “strategic alliance with Clark-Lindsey Village,” southeast of the development, to give residents and their family members “priority access to health care.” The Devonshire team’s plan, called the “Village at Orchard Downs,” included four distinct but interconnected communities with 770 housing units for about 1,200 to 1,500 people, including 64 low-maintenance town homes and 11 single-family units primarily for seniors; 412 renovated housing units for students; 60 market-rate town homes for seniors and students; and a complex containing no-maintenance condominiums and apartments for seniors, possibly two assisted-living group homes, a skilled-care unit, and additional “flex housing” that could be used for students, seniors or other residents. The Devonshire team is talking with Carle Foundation Hospital and Clinic Association about providing some of the health care services. Other amenities would include a day-care center, a destination playground and 40,000 square feet of retail space, including an international grocery store. The Devonshire team said that it would seek platinum-level certification, the highest rating from the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program, which would make the revitalized Orchard Downs the first community to receive the rating. The team’s plans included many sustainable and energy efficient technologies such as permeable concrete paving and “green roofs” for collecting and filtering storm water; residential-sized wind turbines; and space for the UI’s Solar Decathlon House, an 800-square-foot house powered entirely by solar energy that a team of faculty and staff members and students is building for an international competition in Washington, D.C., this fall. Fred Coleman, director of capital development for Orchard Downs, said the events were a “communitywide validation check of whether the development teams have listened and how well they have been able to meet our shared vision of the redevelopment of Orchard Downs.” Public forums were held previously in April 2004 and in October. The teams also met with faculty and staff members in November to garner their expertise. The university plans to hire a consulting firm to prepare feasibility studies and financial analyses. Chancellor Richard Herman expects to make a recommendation – which could be to use one of the plans, portions of both or neither plan – to the board of trustees in late June, Coleman said. Over the summer, Rene Romano, vice chancellor for student affairs, will meet with Orchard Downs residents and staff members from the Housing Division to get their feedback about the design, student services and the transition process for residents. The Orchard Downs redevelopment project is one of the components of Herman’s Strategic Plan for the Urbana campus.
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