The three will be called Legacy Place Monument Square, Legacy North and Legacy South. The new apartment units will be spread out between those three properties as residents have already moved into North and South starting last year.
There have been talks and discussions for years related to the need for affordable senior housing in downtown Urbana as well as transforming the former Douglas Hotel, which has been vacant since 2004 and takes up nearly an entire corner of Monument Square.
Renovations to those buildings started in 2020 after $13 million in funding was approved for the project, according to the Champaign Economic Partnership.
That money is a combination of federal and state Historic Tax Credits, low income housing tax credits, an Ohio Housing Finance Agency loan and a construction loan.
Now, the units at the former Douglas Hotel now known as Legacy Place Monument Square are near completion and applications are available to potential residents.
“Seeing lights on at Legacy Place in Urbana’s Downtown warms my heart. The transformation of all three buildings has been amazing. The impact of this project on our community will be felt for many years to come,” said Rich Ebert, the executive director of the Champaign Economic Partnership.
There are 14 apartments at Legacy Place South, 20 at North and 17 at the former Douglas Hotel. But units are going fast and only one unit is available to rent at South and three are available at North.
Legacy South was the first to be completed in the project, with units ready to rent in the summer of 2021 and some residents moving in around that time. Legacy North opened its doors later in the year and now the former Douglas Hotel location is making its final preparations in order to welcome residents soon.
Herron Property Management will manage the Legacy Place properties in Urbana.
Leasing for Legacy Place apartments are open to seniors who are 55 years-old or older. Those interested can visit livelegacyplace.com for more details.
The project also ties into larger redevelopment efforts in Urbana as well as in Champaign County as a whole, said Urbana’s Mayor Bill Bean.
That includes creating more living opportunities in downtown Urbana, generating more foottraffic in the area and focusing on preexisting restaurants and retail shops as well as attracting new ones.
Housing efforts in downtown Urbana do not only include projects such as Legacy Place, which can free up other housing stock in the city, but smaller renovations to building in the area to create more loft apartments.
In addition, previous studies in the area found aging housing stock in Champaign County as a whole and limited new builds in the area.
A housing analysis conducted in the county and released in 2020 showed that 75% of homes there were built before 1990. It was also found that about 80% of new home construction since 2010 has occurred outside municipal boundaries in the county.
Moving forward, the goal is to attract more investment and interest from developers. That does not just include Legacy Place or loft apartment projects in downtown Urbana, but other housing developments in the city and county.
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