Champaign Council OKs Carle Project At Curtis Rd Interchange

The stage is set for construction of the first development at the Curtis Road/I-57 Interchange in southwest Champaign.

The News-Gazette reports that the Champaign City Council approved an annexation agreement and final plat for Carle’s 97-acre development at the interchange.

Carle first announced plans in January to move moving administrative offices for its hospital and Health Alliance to the Curtis Road Interchange. A new administrative building will provide space for some 1,200 employees. Shops, residential space and in the future, a new healthcare facility are also planned at the site.

Carle will be moving employees out of existing offices at Lincoln Square Mall in downtown Urbana, the Carle Hospital campus area, and the North Prospect shopping area in Champaign.

Local officials began planning for development of the Curtis Road Interchange, even before it was built in 2008. The site's potential has been compared to the North Prospect shopping area. But to date, the land at the interchange has been only used for farmland.

In 2010, the Champaign City Council approved plans for Wellness At Prairie Village, a development that would have included a new Christie Clinic facility. But that plan was abandoned in the midst of the Great Recession.