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Friday, September 21, 2007 9:10 PM CDT
Rental houses to be demolished to make way for apartment building
By ROB STROUD, Staff Writer
rstroud@jg-tc.com
CHARLESTON — Five former rental houses along Fourth Street are slated to be demolished this month to make way for a new apartment building.
Brothers Hadley and Chad Phillips plan to develop a 30-unit, three-story apartment building on the property along the west side of Fourth, just south of Polk Avenue. They are vice presidents with their father Reggie Phillips’ Unique Homes of Charleston, but their building is being developed separately from the business.
Hadley Phillips said the houses are set to be demolished late next week, adding concrete has already been removed from around the structures. He said a sixth rental house across the street will be demolished at the end of the school year to make way for a parking lot for the building.
Phillips said the apartment building should be ready for rentals by early to mid-August, in time for the start of Eastern Illinois University’s fall semester. The property is located within short walking distance of Eastern’s campus and businesses along Lincoln Avenue.
“Fourth Street and Polk Avenue is just an area where there is a lot of activity going on, and a lot of students live down that way,” Phillips said. He added the property is one of the last available sites in Charleston zoned for apartment building use.
Phillips said each apartment will contain two bedrooms, so the building could have up to 60 tenants. He said each apartment will be 1,100 square feet in area.
“We are going to have a bunch of amenities in there,” Phillips said.
Each apartment will have a washer and dryer and each bedroom will have a full bathroom, Phillips said. He added each apartment also will have a security system that will alert police if the door is forced open.
There will be two hot-tub rooms on the building’s second floor and two workout rooms on the third floor, Phillips said. Open land behind the building will be allotted for basketball and cookouts, he said.
Phillips said the Preservation and Conservation Association, a nonprofit group from Champaign County, contacted him and his brother about salvaging materials from the houses. He said they have let the group’s volunteers and local residents salvage wood trim, fireplace items, floor vents, doors and other materials from the houses.
The association’s Web site, www.pacacc.org, reported the group is dedicated to historic preservation in Champaign County and one of its funding sources is an architectural salvage warehouse in downtown Champaign. Salvage warehouse volunteers could not be reached for comment.
Contact Rob Stroud at rstroud@jg-tc.com or 348-5734.
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Dottedline wrote on Sep 22, 2007 4:22 PM: