Champaign's Downtown Plaza: Exciting Final Phase Set for 2026 Unveiling

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CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (WCIA) — Downtown Champaign businesses are already setting their sights on the future as a significant city project nears completion.

The downtown plaza on Neil Street is gearing up for Phase Two of its development, scheduled to commence in June. This phase will expand the existing plaza. David Happ, a Civil Engineer with Champaign Public Works, revealed that the city plans to transform the parking lot between Neil and Washington Streets into a vibrant green space. This new area will feature a sloped lawn, a fountain, swings, and small kiosks intended for use by the city and local businesses.

“It just opens up more possibilities, more businesses flourishing on this side of downtown,” remarked Samir Naik, who owns Collective Pour. His business will benefit from the proximity to the new green space.

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Despite the impending removal of the parking lot, local business owners and plaza visitors remain unconcerned about the change.

Phase One of the downtown plaza project finished in April, and people have been enjoying it ever since. Jess Thinnes is one of them.

“For Friday Night Live, we would come and meet friends,” she said. “It’s a really great space to come.”

Thinnes lives in Urbana, but she spends a lot of time at the downtown plaza in Champaign with her family.

“We like to have live music, and I think it’s really nice that I feel safe for the kids to be running around,” she added.

There will be even more space after Phase Two is complete. Happ said construction is expected to finish in the spring of 2027, but businesses like Collective Pour are already looking forward to it.

“It brings a lot more welcoming atmosphere, instead of just a concrete parking lot,” Naik said.

He isn’t concerned about the parking lot in front of his business going away, since there’s a parking lot behind it as well. People can then use a hallway to get from the back of the building to Collective Pour’s front door.

“With Phase Two, having that hallway, hopefully our landlord works with us,” Naik said. “Getting access to the rear side parking lot, it should be very negligible for us.”

Collective Pour is also within 500 feet of a parking garage. Naik said both the garage and the lot behind Collective Pour are underutilized, something Thinnes confirmed.

“We just came to Big Grove for lunch and parked in the garage right here and crossed and felt totally fine with that,” she said. “There was plenty of parking space.”

With the parking problem in the rearview mirror, Naik can focus on the positives.

“We saw what they did with Phase One, and we were very ecstatic about it,” he shared.

Now, he’s left with nothing but confidence as the city looks ahead to finally finishing the project.

“It’s beneficial for us, but I think it’s beneficial for everyone,” Naik added.

Happ said construction of Phase Two is estimated to cost $14 million. $12 million comes from a state grant, administered by the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, and the other $2 million is from the city’s general fund.