It's Your Business | Urbana's Boomerangs Bar & Grill up for sale

Deb Pressey, The News-Gazette, Champaign-Urbana, Ill.
·5 min read

Nov. 28—East Urbana's Boomerangs Bar & Grill is for sale.

Co-owner Tom Grassman, also a local musician, is remaining in the music business, but as for the bar and grill at 1309 E. Washington St., he said, he's "moving on."

The business does well, Grassman said, and he anticipates if someone buys it, "it will stay in business for a good long time."

He and his wife, Christy, bought Boomerangs in 2011.

According to the Coldwell Banker Commercial Devonshire Realty sales listing, the price is $625,000.

From the listing: "This well-established neighborhood watering hole and grill has been in operation for decades, and current ownership is looking into their next business venture. Current ownership has established the business as a live music hotspot in Champaign-Urbana with great food specials including Wing Wednesday and Fish Fry Friday."

Over and out

Plans for a new Octapharma Plasma collection center in Urbana are officially off the table, at least for the planned location at the former Save-A-Lot grocery building at 220 N. Broadway Ave.

The company withdrew both its request for a special-use permit and an appeal of a decision made by city Zoning Administrator Kevin Garcia, according to city planner Kat Trotter.

Asked this past week about its future plans for a plasma center in the area, the company sent this statement:

"Octapharma Plasma is consistently looking to expand into attractive communities, like Urbana, Illinois, as the demand for plasma increases. Despite our desire to grow and become a part of certain communities, occasionally there are circumstances that prevent us from doing so. We plan to continue looking for locations in this area and other markets throughout the U.S."

Kerry Clish, director of facilities for Octapharma, had told the Urbana city council during the summer that the company planned to have a 10-year lease for the former Save-A-Lot space and had planned to invest about $1.5 million in remodeling the space and another $1 million on furnishings and equipment.

New doctor in Savoy

OSF HealthCare has a new primary-care physician at its OSF Medical Group offices at 501 N. Dunlap Ave., Savoy.

Dr. Karen Whitehorn holds a medical degree from Southern Illinois University School of Medine and did her internal medicine residency at Mercy Hospital and Medical Center, Chicago.

Appointments can be made with her by calling 217-560-6300, according to OSF.

To market

Mistletoe Market, featuring more than 60 vendors, is coming up in two locations in Champaign-Urbana.

The market will be at Lincoln Square in Urbana from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Dec. 3 and at The Venue CU, 51 E. Main St., C, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Dec. 18.

The market, organized by NORDEN German Design Studio and Shop, is partnering with Champaign Center Partnership and 40 North to bring the event to downtown Champaign.

Along with goods for sale in Champaign, there will be carriage rides from noon to 4 p.m. and Santa will be making an appearance from 2-3 p.m.

The event in Urbana will feature glasses of mulled wine, winter decorations and holiday music to accompany the selection of goods from local artisans.

Kohl's going solar

The city of Champaign has issued a building permit for $400,000 for a rooftop solar system at the Kohl's store in Champaign.

A year ago, the chain announced it was launching a program to equip 15 of its store rooftops in Arizona and Illinois with solar arrays in 2022, bringing the total to 178 locations.

The company said the 15 new projects would increase Kohl's installed solar capacity by 10.4 percent, to a total of 56.97 megawatts.

Getting a raise

OSF HealthCare announced Wednesday that it will increase the minimum hourly wage for its employees from $15 to $16, starting Sunday — and to $18.08 for employees in the Chicago metro area.

Along with minimum-wage employees, other OSF employees will be getting raises within eligible job classifications, the Peoria-based system said.

OSF officials said the raises would enable the system to attract and retain employees and address staffing needs in critical health care positions.

"OSF knows our mission partners have been through a lot over the past two years throughout the pandemic, coupled with the increasing pressure of inflation," said Shelley Nguyen, OSF's chief human resources officer.

The raises are projected to have a positive annual economic impact of $13 million on the communities served by OSF.

Unemployment drops again

Illinois' October unemployment rate of 4.3 percent represents a drop of 0.5 percentage points from the 4.8 percent rate in October 2021, the Illinois Department of Employment Security said.

Here's how rates changed in area counties in October as compared with the same month a year earlier:

* Champaign County: Down 0.1 percentage points to 3.7 percent.

* Douglas County: Unchanged at 3 percent.

* Ford County: down 0.1 percentage points to 3.4 percent.

* Piatt County: Unchanged at 3 percent.

* Vermilion County: Down 0.2 percentage points to 5.1 percent.

The Champaign-Urbana metro area, which includes Champaign, Piatt and Ford counties, had 500 more non-farm jobs in October compared with October 2021, while the Danville/Vermilion County metro area was up 800 jobs, according to the state agency.