Major Fire Destroys Historic Building in Downtown Champaign
With details still coming in, there is little more to report yet as to how and why and when, but this is from the city manager, Steve Carter:
There has been a major fire downtown. You probably have heard on the news if listening or watching. The SW corner of Church-Neil. A huge fire when reported. The building collapsed. Fortunately the fire crews were able to keep it from spreading to adjoining buildings. Smoke and water damage mostly to the building south. Some minor damage to M2—windows broken. No injuries reported. Mutual aid used to help downtown and to staff our stations as our folks were down here. The heart of downtown will be pretty well blocked off while they continue to check for hot spots, make sure the area is safe, and clean up. The command car is in front of Mary Ann’s (sic) diner.
Video courtesy of Cecil Bilbo.
Ed. Note: These photos were forwarded to us through a long chain of emails. If these are your photos, please let us know so that we may give you credit.
11 comments
thenoiseboy
That’s really unfortunate. One of the few interesting historic buildings in downtown falls, while all this new construction surrounds it.
nineteen
YAY!!! Now we can build the 19th Bar in Downtown Champaign without having to worry about all of that pesky “Historical Preservation”
twenty
no doubt.
can cody just have the plot now? will somebody please clean up the mess and then hand over the deed so we don’t have to have any bothersome bidding process?
Cassie
How awful. That was a really nice building that really contributed to the historical character of that strip of Neil St. Thanks for being on top of this SP.
townee
I vote for a four story indoor water park, with rotating bar and restaurant atop.
Theo Long
WCIA reported that they may have a suspect; some guy who has a proclivity for setting fires downtown and who is currently on probation for arson.
musebrarian.myopenid.com
Here are some more photos from later this morning. http://flickr.com/photos/musebrarian/sets/72157608734569332/
This is an unfortunate loss for downtown. I just hope that it’s not replaced with some replicant called M3.
Dave
First: Theo, I haven’t seen that being reported? Are you serious? If it turns out to be arson, that would be terrible.
Second: musebrarian, anything that is built there will be new. Sure, no one wants to lose a historic building, but an M3 building would be better than a rubble pit. Well, we’ll see what happens.
TJ
Theo: I believe what you were hearing was a story on WCIA looking back at the 1987 fire at One Main. That fire was set by a man on probation who had a history of arson. There has been no indication that this was arson. I have set up a page on www.downtownchampaign.com for any additional comments and a repository of photos and video. This is a terrible tragedy for Downtown but something good will come of it.
Theo Long
I wasn’t sure if what I heard was right or not (from WCIA). I was home on lunch, scrambling around, so maybe I missed the 1987 part. My bad. Let’s hope it wasn’t arson.
musebrarian.myopenid.com
Dave,
That’s true if our choices were between a rubble pit and a M3. But it does sound as if the owners are at least contemplating a building that might honor the spirit of what was lost. Rebuilding the Metro brick-for-brick won’t ever be possible, but something evocative of the historic character of that block would be work working towards.
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I would be interested to hear more about the “word on the street”—how are individual hauling companies fulfilling their promise to recycle?