The residence halls on Gregory and Peabody drives in Champaign are not the only student housing facilities set for a makeover.

The plans to renovate Orchard Downs have changed, as the University has learned more about the opportunity presented by the community.

Orchard Downs is an off-campus community in Urbana for graduate students, faculty and staff with families. Administrators are confident that it presents unique opportunities to extend its boundaries and programs to an even greater population, which is set to include retirees.

In an April 7 memo to the Southeast and West Urbana Neighborhood Associations, Chancellor Richard Herman announced his acceptance of the Orchard Downs Advisory Committee’s recommendation to develop a Master Land Use Plan for the site instead of choosing a master developer that would have been presented to the University of Illinois Board of Trustees.

In research of the proposals, the members of the Orchard Downs Advisory Committee, which was formed in the summer of 2006, advised the Chancellor that the process be stopped in the direction it was heading. The committee instead recommended a Master Land Use Plan, which would provide a broader vision for the 160-acre piece of land.

“It will have a plan essentially for the whole 160 acres, and it will give us an overall vision for the whole piece,” said Renee Romano, vice chancellor of student affairs. “And then the plan is that we would go out and develop the pieces individually.”

Romano explained that neither of the two developers’ proposals accomplished exactly what the committee envisioned for the new Orchard Downs, and in the process of working with developers, the committee learned that a Master Land Use Plan would be a better alternative.

“We now have a very clear idea of what we want there,” said Kathleen Holden, chair of the advisory committee. “I believe we’ll be able to more effectively partner with developers as a result of this process.”

The University envisions high-end retail, graduate family housing, single family homes and an active retirement community, Holden said. The University hopes to seek bidding on a Master Land Use Plan this summer, with groundbreaking in 2011.

“We want a vibrant, multicultural, multigenerational destination community worthy of this University,” Holden said. “It’s going to add to the University to have this wonderful community right next to the campus.”

Romano said this community will be the answer to many baby boomers who are looking for more than a typical retirement community.

“It would be good for everyone that lived there because they would have a real variety of people,” Romano said. “It would be a really rich community both in terms of the physical space and the amenities, but also the kind of people they would be living with and the different ages of people.”

Faezeh Koohestani, a graduate student, lived at Orchard Downs last year and serves on the committee.

She said it is very popular among international students because of its welcoming atmosphere and serves as a home away from home.

She said that cost for students needs to be a consideration, as international graduate students have a restricted income because they cannot legally work outside the University. This limits their income to their assistantships.

“I think if they keep the present friendly environment that Orchard Downs has, and if they can continue the services and update the apartments, that would be the ideal thing for students living there,” Koohestani said.

Holden is also pleased with what the University has learned so far and said she is looking forward to applying that knowledge as the Orchard Downs redevelopment progresses.

“I am just very pleased the University is moving in a positive direction,” she said. “Everyone wants this to be the kind of place where they would like to live, and I’m optimistic this is going to happen.”