Wendy’s golden, pearly gates opened to its ethereal insides Monday at 9 a.m. And so began a new tradition for our collegiate community’s post-2 a.m.-on-a-weekend consumptive habits. No longer will it be called the “Freshman 15”; instead, this time of our lives will be remembered as the “When-Wendy’s-Finally-Reopened 15.” 

Officially, we turn to the mighty hamburger in our inebriated states. And officially, we turn to our beloved Wendy’s after an all-nighter at Grainger.

But Wendy’s return to campustown signals more than just a change in our dietary habits — it will mark a shift in the University’s restaurant and dining scene. 

Fifteen years ago, campustown was host to a number of fast-food chain restaurants no longer with us: McDonald’s, Burger King (which was located on the lot of 309 E. Green St.) and, yes, even Wendy’s. Back in the day, Wendy’s occupied the building that now houses Chipotle and Noodles & Company. And the business climate, overall, was very different. There used to be a movie theater where the Green Street Towers apartments now are. Four lanes congested traffic, and no one had 20 seconds to spare for a diagonal crosswalk. 

The campus’s atmosphere was toxic, unsafe, infested with a general feeling of “bleh.” It was generally perceived as uninviting to the University’s own students for a variety of reasons (such as pedestrian safety), and it was a detractor to potential applicants who were considering their future in Champaign-Urbana. 

For these reasons, then-Chancellor Michael Aiken launched Campustown 2000, a partnership between the city of Champaign and the University to rebuild and refresh the campus’s landscape. The $8 million face-lift was completed with dazzling results: a refined campus able to keep its patrons for a longer time than it takes to walk to class.

In turn, the construction gave way to new, burgeoning businesses, such as Chipotle, Urban Outfitters, Mia Za’s, Panera and the like. Businesses remaining on this prime real estate property contributed to a 10-year tax to maintain the aesthetic feel of the community, which eventually drove out less profitable businesses in the area. And, like the Windy City after the Chicago Fire, campustown hasn’t been the same ever since. 

The tentative plans for construction at Lot J, next to Legend’s Bar and Grill, will change the kinds of businesses introduced to Green Street and the surrounding area, much like how the Campustown 2000 project did. 

According to Matt Wavering, director of commercial brokerage at Coldwell Banker Commercial Devonshire Realty, Wendy’s saw an opportunity for increased business because the nearby construction, which would house a hotel, apartment building and retail, would bring out-of-town customers. Entrepreneurial decisions like these will determine the variety in dining options and the types of retailers we students will have available to us. It is the decisions like these that make it competitive for non-chain stores to remain viable on Green Street (Sliders, anyone?). 

As the city of Champaign pushes to become more micro-urban, we’ll see businesses like Wendy’s come back to town.