About Me

Champaign, IL
I am an engineering student at The University of Illinois which makes me seem a lot smarter than I really am. This blog tells the stories of my attempt to get the full U of I experience with more than a bit of commentary.

Monday, December 2, 2013

The Seven Boroughs of Campustown



Champaign Student Housing - An Unscientific analysis.

The 7 Boroughs of Campustown

Off-campus housing is a central part of the student culture here at the University of Illinois; approximately 75% of all undergrads (everybody but freshman) live in non-university housing. Perplexed by this large percentage and intrigued by the apparent self separation of the students, I have taken it upon myself to investigate the culture of off campus housing.

The borders of campus and campus town are fairly well defined. The train tracks mark the western border, University Ave marks the northern border Kirby/Florida marks the southern border. The eastern boundary is a bit less concrete, however I have not heard of anyone living east of McCullough.

Within this trapezoid lies campus and most of the off-campus housing. It would be easy to take a random sample of 20 apartments in this box and call it a day, but to paraphrase somebody important I chose to do this not beacuse it is easy, but because it is hard.

To make things more interesting, I divided the greater campus area into 7 areas which I claim to be culturally unique. A brief overview of the boundaries of each borough as well as a couple sentences about the culture as I see it along with an average price and standard deviation for an apartment or house in that region. Details of my methodology can be found at the end of this post.


The first borough I consider is my own neighborhood, the Green Street Strip. Green Street is considered to be the social and ecomic hub of campustown. Home to many restaurants, bars, shops and a growing number of high rises, real estate on the strip is at a premium. The asute observer will notice more than just green street is included in the green box. I have taken the liberty to include the apartments above TIS, Fat Sandwich and the surrounding area as it is closer in price to Green Street proper.

Region 1: Green Street
Who Live here: Complacent rich kids
Average Cost: $668 / Person month (s = 117)
Advantages: You live on Green Street
Disadvantages: $$$
The second neighborhood considered lies just north of Green Street. I do not take credit for the name browntown; the boundaries of this borough were explained to me when I was touring a house last spring. As the name suggests, Brown Town is predominately inhabited by those of Indian descent. Due to the close location to the engineering quad and a block or less from green street, Browntown ranks as the second most expensive place to live.
Region 2: Brown Town
Average Cost: $462 (s = 112)
Pros: Close to class /bars /food
Cons: Expensive and small floor plans
Yet again a name not coined by me but rather by a former roommate of mine who once lived in this loosely defined area. It serves as more of a catch all than a definite cultural area.
Region 3: China Town
Who lives here: Those from the suburbs of Chicago or suburbs of Beijing
Average Cost: $454 (s = 95)
Pros: Close to the new ECE building
Cons: Good luck getting to the arc

The part of campustown which lies below Green, above Gregory, East of First and West of 4th I refer to as the frat borough due to the high concentration of frat houses and a park colloquially known as 'Frat Park'. The close proximity to Green Street, the ARC and the quad makes the frat borough a desirable place to live. As expected the great location pushes the average rent up. Don't expect to have quiet neighbors.

Region 4: Frat Borough
Who lives here: People who go out a lot.
Average Cost: $454 (s = 95)
Advantages. Close to most things
Disadvantages: LOUD
Known to some as senior town, I prefer to call this region the Booze Borough due to its proximity to Picadilly, DP Dough and nothing else. At just over a 0.5 miles to the quad at the closest point the Booze Borough isn't exactly close to anyones classes. Scenic features of the Booze Borough include a coal burning power plant, freight rails, a large warehouse and a gravel pit. The remoteness and overall dilapidation of this area are reflected in the average rent, the second lowest of all boroughs though new developments are driving it up.

Region 5: Booze Borough
Who lives here: DUDES
Average Cost: $428 (s = 131*)
Pros: Close to Picadilly, Beer Barn and DP dough
Cons: Class? 
* the most inexpensive apartment was found here at 204/person month

Geographically speaking, the smallest of any region considered is also the cheapest. Only about 4 blocks of CS kids separate the Siebel Center from Lincoln Avenue. I guess its nice if you take nothing but CS classes.

Region 6. Siebel Borough
Who Lives here: CS kids
Average Cost: $397 (s = 122)
Pros: Close to the Siebel Center
Cons: Food?

The street signs refer to this area as 'Historic Urbana' but I prefer the more concise term hippie borough. A quick saunter through the cobbled streets will reveal houses with names such as 'The Harvest House' and 'The Painted Tree'; a far cry from the kiddie pools full of beer kegs found in other parts of campus. The hippie borough is almost entirely houses although some apartments can be found closer to Lincoln. The going rate for a house is seemingly fixed at 2000/ month so pack 'em in to save some green.

Region 7: Hippie Borough
Who Lives here? Hippies
Average Cost: $436 (s = 93)
Pros: You live in Urbana
Cons: You live in Urbana

Methodology:
I used the internet to look up the posted rent for various properties. If a range was listed, I took the average of the extremes. The commentary is from my own observations and experiences from the past 2.5 years down in the 217.
Here is a link to the spreadsheet. If you are in the crowd sourcing mood, feel free to add a pad in the proper column to extend this experiment.

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