Hey guys I need a little help here. Our daughter, who is pro-second amendment and a recent 5 year Navy veteran, is graduating from SIUE with a nursing degree this May. She is moving to Champaign to get her Masters and Doctorate in Mental Health. She already has a job lined up in Champaign with a mental health facility as soon as she graduates and moves up there this June. She has some apartments in Champaign to look at next week.

So I am asking you guys to reply as to some of the areas she will be looking at...so she doesn't end up in the 'wrong end of town' or waste her time...so to speak.

These are the following areas she's looking at:  Tuscany Ridge Townhouse-Pomona Dr....Town Center-Neil St....Colony West-Colony West Dr....Colonial Village-Mattis Ave...Ginger Creek...Ginger Bend Dr...Baytown-Baytowne Dr...Lincolnshire Townhomes-Lincolnshire Dr...Willow Springs-willow View...Crowwood point-Crowwood Dr.

I know this is a lot to look through but our daughter likes to be thorough/prepared in all she does...gets it from me...whether good or bad.
Anyway, thank you for any replies we can get from you all!

@haunter @druzfostr

Is this a top secret cryptic message reply?  

Maybe they live in that area and it's their bat signal.

I am little behind on the apartment places in town anymore. The more south you can go the better. Colony West is in the right part of town.  Around the mall they have a lot of newer apartments with attractive rates. I would avoid them when possible. The exception being Baytowne Apartments, they are a little pricey, but they are gated and very well managed. I lived there for 2 years and loved it there. They plowed your walked usually before 6am. I could leave my cars idling to warm up.... safe......They are owned/managed by the Atkins group and they only do things 1st class. They built that whole spread by writing a check... no financing. Please PM me with questions. I am happy to cruise by specific places if you want it checked out.

That is awesome...thank you for that info. if I have any more questions I will shoot them your way...thanks, again!

I live close by and rented a house for two years from here

https://www.champaignurbanahomerental.com/all-listings/

Yolanda is good people and she helped us buy a house after moving.

Never stayed in apartments but i would avoid north champaign, mattis st, and urbana. Savoy is a good area. I would say nothing is perfectly safe afterdark though in town.

<----

I was jumped, beaten unconscious and robbed walking home from a bar when I was in law school.

The areas around campus especially are a hunting ground for shit heads.

It's been 20 years so I can't tell you the best areas anymore, but I can say you are wise to do homework.  This deserves a personal trip to town to drive around and observe the area your daughter proposes to live in, and see for herself what kind of people are hanging around the area.

To all who have replied I/we give you a big thank you. Next week my wife, daughter and I are going to indeed drive around Champaign. And actually she is currently living in a small house in Edwardsville which she likes much better than living in an apartment complex. will let you all know how our survey of Champaign ends up.

I can't offer any advice on specific areas, but theres something else I wanted to touch on.  If she's taking firearms, be aware that surrounding apartments around the area don't allow weapons as they still consider themselves "on campus," despite not being owned by the university.  I'm assuming this changes once you get far enough away.  I found out about this a few years ago when I wanted to buy a G19 and send it to my sister who was over there at the time.  Tell her to be careful at night, or if she's alone.  Champaign definitely has its share of creepy guys.  I don't say any of this to scare you, though.  If she's aware of her surroundings and exercises good judgment, she'll be fine.  Just know the area has its share of problems, especially over the past few years.

$.02

Thank you very much for that info. I would have never thought that living in off campus apartments would carry the same insane regulations...but hey, we are talking about Illinois in the 'enlightened 21st century'.

I know there's no way she will live near the campus anyway...she's much smarter that that. She has dependable transportation, she's a hard worker, both at school and her job. She keeps herself busy w/out looking for trouble in the wrong places. Thanks for the heads up!!!

Also if bringing her firearms, make sure she applies for a FOID card as soon as she has an address.

ETA:
Just reread and saw SIUE.  She probably already has one.

Get DL address change done first of all.  I've read it makes the FOID/CCL COA go better.

Thank you for the tip...that will help!

My wife works in Champaign. If she doesn't mind a 20-30min commute, there are a lot of nice small towns she could live in. IM me if you want any specifics.

We went to Champaign yesterday and have found a great place for our daughter to stay. We followed the places/areas you all prescribed and came up with a couple places to choose. Our daughter is just waiting to hear back after processing the forms. A big thank you for your experienced instructions...they were right on the money!!!

Where did she end up?

Savoy...but Baytowne was a very very close second. We went there with her as one of our choices and were very impressed with their set-up! I can understand why you liked it so much...much thanks for your recommendations.

Good call on Savoy.  It's been built up quite a bit since my years in U-C, but it's still a good area.  There are obviously bad areas in U-C (basically all of Urbana), including near parts of campus at night, but there's no minor-metro area in Illinois that has as much to do for all types of interests, thanks to the U of I.

Thank you for that comment...yes, she is happy with that location along with Dad & Mom. But we have to give thanks to our ARFCOM friends who steered us in the right direction. A shining example of brotherly networking.

As an Urbana resident I take offense to this, its only about half the town!

Sorry I saw this so late and couldnt be helpful OP