Which part of Champaign?
I was born there. My mom went to Jr and Sr High School there. Her dad built houses around Champaign (died in 1950) and her mom continued to own an apartment building there until she died in 1984. My mom’s sister continued to live there all her adult life, and one of her daughter’s lived there all her life till she died in 2017. I have made many trips there over the years, and the last time was in 2017 shortly before my cousin died in 2017.
For five years of my childhood we lived not far from my grandmother in Champaign and often my mom would have my grandmother keep one or two of us kids at her house for awhile (my mom had 8 kids. We’d go play in the nearby West Side Park.
As a kid I never knew Chanpaign-Urbana was home to the University of Illinois. I laughed on my first visit back there as an adult when I found that out.
If I did not hate the Dim’s dominance of Illiois politics as much as they do NJ, I’d consider making a residence in Champaign. Alas, if I can, I’m considering more “red” places.
I live just outside of the campus core. It is amazing how much money has been dumped into apartment high rises and complexes since the GFC mitigations provided cheap money. When I first moved to town some 30 years, the main strip into campus was a total dive. The building frenzy has been on going since you last visited in 2017...