Advice about Champaign - help! (Chicago, Peoria: relocating, real estate, budget)

[misstara]

Hi, my husband and I miiiight be relocating to C-U from Lincoln, Nebraska so that he can pursue his PhD. I'm nervous about the whole thing, especially how little it is and the job market for me (hoping to get into PR or HR). I'm working on having an open mind about everything, I'd just always pictured moving to a big city after graduation.

Any ideas on great companies to work for in Champaign? If my husband falls in love with the Engineering Mechanics department at UIUC, we'll probably head that way.

We're visiting this coming weekend. I have a few apartment tours already set up at Tuscany Park, Watersedge, Hessel on the Park, Champaign House and Westbury Park. Anyone have reviews or info about these? They all accept dogs and we're looking to get a Labrador pretty soon after moving. Any other complexes or leasing companies I should look into while I'm there?

Requirements for apartment: allows dogs (the bigger the better), 2BR/2BA (we might be able to make do with 1.5BA), not too incredibly far from campus, not scary, not super-loud college kids, oh - and our budget maybe goes up to $900/mo or so. Any ideas?

I'm grateful for any words of wisdom you might have in this area. I don't want to miss anything when we visit next weekend!

Oh yeah! And we're attending Christ Unity Church in Urbana on Sunday morning. Anyone been there? Is it big? Nice?

Thanks again!

[Clint_Noname]

Let's see here...the schools and cost of living are good but violent crime is the third-highest among mid-sized cities in the state. Unless the transfer to U of I is necessary, I'd stay in Nebraska.

[misstara]

well we're definitely moving out of nebraska this fall no matter what. he's been accepted to the university of texas, university of minnesota and university of illinois. still waiting to hear back on MIT.

so it all depends on how the visits go in each city and how well the programs match up with his educational goals.

so since we're visiting champaign anyway, i'm just looking for some input.

[meatpuff]

Originally Posted by misstara

Hi, my husband and I miiiight be relocating to C-U from Lincoln, Nebraska so that he can pursue his PhD. I'm nervous about the whole thing, especially how little it is and the job market for me (hoping to get into PR or HR). I'm working on having an open mind about everything, I'd just always pictured moving to a big city after graduation.
...
We're visiting this coming weekend. I have a few apartment tours already set up at Tuscany Park, Watersedge, Hessel on the Park, Champaign House and Westbury Park. Anyone have reviews or info about these? They all accept dogs and we're looking to get a Labrador pretty soon after moving. Any other complexes or leasing companies I should look into while I'm there?

Requirements for apartment: allows dogs (the bigger the better), 2BR/2BA (we might be able to make do with 1.5BA), not too incredibly far from campus, not scary, not super-loud college kids, oh - and our budget maybe goes up to $900/mo or so. Any ideas?
...

Hi misstara,

Well, the biggest employer by far in the county is the University. The thing is HUGE and though you don't usually think of a University for those fields, you still might start off poking around there, just because it's such a big pool. It might surprise just how diverse a set of people it employs in order to run something that large.

Champaign will not be mistaken for the big city you were imagining moving to, but it has certain amenities. Compared to a big city, the cultural amenities are not that far behind, public transit it relatively nice, parks and recreation are good. Unfortunately, the job market outside of the University does not resemble a big city, particularly for those type of jobs. But this probably goes for just about any metro area under 400K; the HR jobs and PR jobs especially are concentrated in only the biggest cities.

Of what there is here (BESIDES the University, which is worth checking out), there are some options as far as companies that are either "new economy" companies or at least do a lot of business outside of C-U (and thus would have more need for PR and HR). These include any of:

* companies at University of Illinois Research Park Research Park at the University of Illinois, Research Park & Incubation Facilities, Enterprise Works, Fox Development Corp., Champaign, IL,
* Wolfram Research Wolfram Research, Inc.
* Volition, Inc. Volition, Inc.
* Kraft Foods; they have a large manufacturing plant on the west side of town
* also scan the Wikipedia pages for Champaign and Urbana for lists of major operators here
* health care, C-U is a regional center, and the sector is fairly large:
* Carle Carle Foundation Hospital & Carle Clinic Association
* Christie Clinic Christie Clinic. Medicine For Your Life.
* Provena Covenant Welcome to Provena Covenant Medical Center

Hope that gets you started.

As for housing, first of all crime/scary depends mostly on the part of town, those not around campus or the "ghetto" (which will be easy to spot on your visit here: standard signs like houses that aren't cared for) have little to worry about. And campus is mostly petty crime, which you always get in return for the higher density.

Parking around campus can be expensive and a pain, although fortunately it's less bad around the Engineering part of campus. The bus system is excellent and you may consider as a small factor living near one or more bus routes to campus. Don't make this a major part of your decision. But you can check out the evening routes at Champaign-Urbana Mass Transit District to get an idea of areas that are especially well-served.

You have listed only large apartment complexes. You don't have time on a short visit to C-U to meet with tiny landlords, but there are some companies that manage large numbers of smaller units spread all over town that you might look at. Based on my own experience hunting for an apartment that allows dogs (with a reputable landlord), here are a few with websites that I would recommend looking at:
Ramshaw Real Estate
Champaign Urbana, Apartments, Rentals, Housing
cu-living.com | Apartments in Champaign Urbana Illinois
There is a craigslist page for C-U that is very active for housing also.

Well, that's about all I can think of about the C-U for now! HTH.

-meatpuff

[linicx]

Everything despnds upon what you must have balanced against what you want. UI isn't in Chicago. Champaign, like Peoria is a farming community with a very large four year college plunked in the middle of it. If safety and a quieter area for study might suit your needs better, then do consider smaller communities like Ranoul. Rent should be cheaper and it should be easier to find what you need in housing in a smalller community. As the sixth most populated state in the nation, our little communities hold some intersting surprises.

The last time I was in Texas motel and restaurant tax was 15% and gasoline was the highest in the nation despite the fact it is refined in Texas. Illinoiis motel and restaurant tax depends upon the county. Where i live it is 7%.. Groceries statewide are 1%.

Since you are open-minded, do take the time to look at options. Do get the local newspapers where you visit, ask questions, and read the phone books.. The yellow pages are a fountain of information. . .

[illini84]

Originally Posted by Clint_Noname

violent crime is the third-highest among mid-sized cities in the state

Where did you get this information from? I lived in Champaign from 2003-2007 and it was very safe, except for a couple ghettos everyone knew not to go to. I lived downtown and frequently walked home alone late at night (I'm female) and never had a single problem.

[Momof4monkeys]

I actually really like C-U. I am paranoid about crime and there *are* bad parts, but overall, it's a nice town. And you can live just south of town (I forget the name of the little town but it's by the Orchard), and it is much more affordable.

[Clint_Noname]

Originally Posted by illini84

Where did you get this information from? I lived in Champaign from 2003-2007 and it was very safe, except for a couple ghettos everyone knew not to go to. I lived downtown and frequently walked home alone late at night (I'm female) and never had a single problem.

I got the statistics from the Illinois State Police. They don't actually have a ranking for most dangerous mid-sized cities; I just calculated the per-capita crime rates for every mid-sized city in the state that wasn't a suburb of Chicago and found Champaign to be third most dangerous among those cities. There are many violent crimes that you don't see happening or even hear on the news. A place can feel safe even if it has a bunch of people who are determined to commit a crime. But then again, there are probably a lot of brawls involving drunken UI students that make it into the statistics...

[illini84]

Originally Posted by Clint_Noname

I just calculated the per-capita crime rates for every mid-sized city in the state that wasn't a suburb of Chicago and found Champaign to be third most dangerous among those cities.

Take all the mid-sized cities in Illinois (minus the Chicago suburbs) and you're probably left with three

Just kidding, interesting statistic though.

[Katiana]

Also, see this thread:
Moving to Champaign Il help please!