Bloomington Illinois (Chicago, Peoria, Springfield: insurance, apartments, hotels)

[original_bookgirl]

We're getting an interesting nibble on a job in Bloomington, IL. I've never been there and know nothing except that there are 2 universities there. Can anyone shed a little light on the overall feel? I know, family friendly, but is it a nothing place in the middle of nowhere or is it a nice town?

Are there only college kids? Or are there some thirty-somethings?

Top five favorite things? Top five least favorite things?

Thanks everybody!

[M TYPE X]

I'm in Champaign and stop in Bloomington whenever I want to go to bigger big box stores. That's about it.

[arpschneider]

Originally Posted by M TYPE X

I'm in Champaign and stop in Bloomington whenever I want to go to bigger big box stores. That's about it.

Actually: there's quite a bit MORE than just "big box stores" in Bloomington/Normal. Downtown Normal has the feel (as one would expect) of a college town, but the outlying areas are building subdivisions for the mega insurance employers State Farm and Country Companies at an astonishing pace! Development has already jumped-over the Towanda/Barnes Blacktop and heading east towards Cooksville and Ellsworth, Downs, etc. There are subdivisions also building north and east of I-55/I-74 and even developments heading south/southwest from Bloomington. Soon, Heyworth, 10 miles south, will become a suburb of Bloomington!

There is obviously SOMEthing driving all of that development that people seem to like the area and are drawn to it.

This past Thursday evening, despite crappy weather (thunderstorms and even hail!) my wife and I went out for an anniversary dinner at one of the restaurants along Veterans Parkway and it was very crowded for a week-night. We noted that many places along were also equally crowded.

So, whatever there is, or isn't, in the area, there certainly seems to be prosperity, and a lot of young families; certainly not just "college kids"!

[normalgary]

Bloomington-Normal is conveniently located between Chicago and St. Louis so you get the "small-town, university" feel with the ability to head for one of those two cities for special occasions, entertainment, sports events, etc.

[NYrules]

No its not just college kids. B/N is basically like a huge sprawling Chicago suburb without Chicago next to it as my old college professor put it years ago when I was at IL STATE.

There is tons of shopping and places to eat out. The town is booming beyond anyone's wildest imaginations and I have to be honest here, I have no idea why??? Yes it is a nice safe community, but I don't know what the huge draw is to the town. Not saying that there is anything wrong with the town, I just don't understand why it is booming the way it is. I mean the town has changed dramatically over the past 20 years to the point that if you haven't been there in 10 years, you wouldn't even recognize it.

There are hotels up the ying yang, restaurants of every genre you can think of, they even got a Krispy Kreme now, and I heard from close friends that live on the east side, that White Castle was considering moving in.

The town has two of the largest Wal Marts I have ever seen, and in the 90s Normal's super Wally World was ranked busiest in the world! Traffic in the town is surprising too, as you tool down the parkway or College Ave... if you didn't know you were in a small city in the middle of corn, you would swear you were driving down Touhy or Dempster in the northern burbs of Chicago. Traffic can be a complete nightmare once State Farm rings its bell to let everyone go home at 5 which is rather comical because it really does look like something you would see in some corney movie like Office Space as everyone is stuck in bumper to bumper traffic on Veterans Parkway from 5PM to 530 and the rest of the day traffic is average on it.

The malls in the town are nice too. Eastland is much like the town itself; a sprawling mall that over the years keeps having more wings added onto it making it bigger and bigger. College Hills mall was torn down about 7 years ago now and turned into an upscale outdoor mall, and a new Sams Club was built on the north end of the town of which is the new hot bed of activity as Veterans Parkway/Pipeline Road was added onto and now goes north of I-55 whereas before it would stop at I-55, so many new businesses have chosen to open up shop there.

Schools in the town are also top of the line. I cannot say anything bad about them. During my days in college I had to interview principals numerous times at the various jr. highs and high schools for school projects and was in many of the schools and I have to say, the schools are all fresh, new, the teachers seemed great, and the kids were really nice too.

Check it out, it is a nice town overall.

[BUalumni]

Bloomington is a really great town when it comes down to just plain having a good overall quality of life. I have always felt that both Bloomington and Normal lack a significant amount of character outside of ISU and insurance, although Normal is getting better with its 'Uptown', which has some really great things to do. Don't get me wrong, if you want a town that is affordable, has great schools, good shopping, lots of entertaiment venues, clean, low crime, and is booming in almost every category, then Bloomington is for you. I too am puzzled and in amazement at how much growth the town has went through. No doubt that Peoria has continued to fuel some of that growth, since the job market in Bloomington seems saturated. Working in the medical field, I can assure you that the number of insurance claims made in Bloomington using CAT insurance is rising at a good pace. Not to mention that OSF is expanding into McClean County too.

[ILMomof4]

I live in Normal and here is m list

Faves:
1. Schools. The schools here are great.
2. Variety of stores and restaurants
3. Traffic. Even in "Rush Hour" it does not take long to get anywhere
4. Constitution Trail
5. Close to so many big cities. Chicago, Indy, St. Louis
6. Housing prices. Coming from the Chicago suburbs the houses here are CHEAP.



Dislikes
1. People commenting on the fact the town is called Normal, "How Normal is Normal?" funny, at first.
2. Average wait time for a table in a restaurant. For a town with a lot of restaurants it seems no one cooks here.
3. Winter. We usually don't get much snow it is just cold.


Alright, I guess I only have 3 major dislikes about living here.

[M TYPE X]

Nothing was said in response to my post that invalidates my claim. Lots of chain restaurants and big box stores. Downtown Bloomington and downtown Normal are nothing special.

All of midstate Illinois is basically like this, although Peoria and Springfield have some action downtown. I spend time in downtown Champaign maybe twice per year.

[NYrules]

Originally Posted by M TYPE X

Nothing was said in response to my post that invalidates my claim. Lots of chain restaurants and big box stores. Downtown Bloomington and downtown Normal are nothing special.

All of midstate Illinois is basically like this, although Peoria and Springfield have some action downtown. I spend time in downtown Champaign maybe twice per year.

Well not everyone hates the chains and big box stores. I don't really care either way. I can think in MANY cases where I would rather be at a chain restaurant over some greasy spoon greek restaurant in Chicago where it looks like they haven't vacuumed the carpet in the past year and are still using those classy 1970's gold cups that are about 4 inches tall to serve your water to you in and they have to have the placemats advertising about every useless thing imaginable from Joy's Pet sitting services, to bible stores, but instead of investing $$$ into new carpet and booths, they instead feel it neccessary to put up about 20 tv sets hanging off the walls in the eatting area.

[BUalumni]

Originally Posted by M TYPE X

Nothing was said in response to my post that invalidates my claim. Lots of chain restaurants and big box stores. Downtown Bloomington and downtown Normal are nothing special.

All of midstate Illinois is basically like this, although Peoria and Springfield have some action downtown. I spend time in downtown Champaign maybe twice per year.

I agree that downtown Bloomington is nothing special. If you are looking for a place to get drunk and nothing else than it is great.

However. How can you say that 'Uptown' Normal aren't anything special? There is the amazing and state of the art Children's Musuem, Amtrack line, a large stock of locally owned vintage music, and 'skate' orienated stores, local coffee hosues, ice cream shops, many restuarants (one of which has a tree growing in the middle of it, and the only mainstream chain that I saw was Jimmy John's) apartments, bookstores, a large, brand new bank, and ISU stuff everywhere. Not to mention that the university is literally right next door, and a new upscalce hotel is going in right in the middle of it all. I doubt that a large hotel would invest in an area that they don't think would give their clients a nice return. I would go with Normal's 'Uptown' scene anyday over Springfield's. Comparing Peoria's downtown to that of Normal's is crazy. Peoria is set up completely different than Bloomington, and can get away with having a more trully urban downtown.