Champaign Council Initiates Final Phase Of Bristol Place Redevelopment

The Champaign City Council has asked staff to finalize plans with a developer for the Bristol Place neighborhood in northeast Champaign.The final phase of the master plan, unanimously backed by council Tuesday, would involve a partnership with the Housing Authority of Champaign County in a neighborhood the city has been working to tear down and rebuild.

The agreement requires the hiring of local minorities. Council member Clarissa Fourman says that was key for her.

“If you want to do business with the City of Champaign, you should change the way that you do business, and you should include diversity," she said. "We shouldn’t have to attach an incentive for you to come and do that. And so I think that’s kind of, I can’t speak for the rest of the council members, but for myself, new day, new year, you want to do business with the City of Champaign, we want to see diversity, and we don’t want to have to incentivize.”

It also stipulates the plan involving Suburban-Chicago based AHDVS, a minority-owned developer, would require a final vote next month by the city council and Housing Authority. 

If approved, the city expects to acquire all the land by June.

City council member Will Kyles says it’s ‘unprecedented’ to incorporate an African-American owned company in this contract.