Burnham 310 is a skyscraper in

Champaign, Illinois Champaign ( ) is a city in Champaign County, Illinois, United States. The population was 88,302 at the 2020 census. It is the tenth-most populous municipality in Illinois and the fourth most populous city in Illinois outside the Chicago metropo ...

, United States. Construction was started in December 2006 and completed in September 2008 after months of planning, development and delayed construction. Originally, the city block at 310 East Springfield Avenue had been occupied by the area's first

hospital A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment with specialized health science and auxiliary healthcare staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, which typically has an emerge ...

. The establishment of the Burnham City Hospital was proposed in 1935, the same year as the

Champaign City Building The Champaign City Building serves as a symbol of the city, with its likeness featured on the city logo. Designated a Champaign Landmark on July 18, 2005, the ornate decoration, art deco architecture, and copper roof distinguish the building as one ...

. Under the

Public Works Administration The Public Works Administration (PWA), part of the New Deal of 1933, was a large-scale public works construction agency in the United States headed by Secretary of the Interior Harold L. Ickes. It was created by the National Industrial Recove ...

program, which was established as part of the

New Deal The New Deal was a series of programs, public work projects, financial reforms, and regulations enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1939. Major federal programs agencies included the Civilian Cons ...

of 1933 during President

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...

's first term, both building proposals qualified for federal grant funding. In 1989, the Burnham City Hospital merged with Mercy Hospital to form Provena Covenant Medical Center and, in 1992, most services were consolidated which caused the Burnham to close. The structure then stood vacant for 14 years until it was razed in summer 2004.

Building design

The tower was designed by VOA Associates, and was intended to be the cornerstone of the "Burnham District" that would link Campustown near the

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Univ ...

campus with Downtown Champaign. Upon its completion in 2008, Burnham 310 became the tallest building in the

Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area The Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, also known as Champaign–Urbana and Urbana–Champaign as well as Chambana (colloquially), is a metropolitan area in east-central Illinois. As defined by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the ...

, surpassing the Tower at Third. However, the building has been surpassed in height by 309 Green in 2009, and by HERE Champaign in 2015. The first floor of the tower is occupied by sales office space for Greystar Communities and Apartments. Attached to the east side of the tower is a

County Market County Market is a supermarket chain primarily operating in the Midwestern United States. Presently, more than 100 independently owned County Market stores operate in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, and Missouri. County Market is part of the United Nat ...

grocery store, which also houses a

Caribou Coffee Caribou Coffee Company is an American coffee company and coffeehouse chain. It was founded in Edina, Minnesota, Edina, Minnesota, in 1992. As of May 2015, the company operates 603 locations worldwide. It is headquartered in Brooklyn Center, Minne ...

store. Currently, the County Market is the only full-service grocery store located within Campustown. A fitness center is also located on the first floor of the building. The second to eighteenth floors are a mixture of one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments.

Neighborhood impact

Boneyard Creek Second Street Basin Stone Arch Bridge Champaign Illinois

Because of the completion of Burnham 310, the Champaign Park District made improvements to Scott Park. New playground equipment and landscaping updates were completed during summer 2009. The

Stone Arch Bridge An arch bridge is a bridge with abutments at each end shaped as a curved arch. Arch bridges work by transferring the weight of the bridge and its loads partially into a horizontal thrust restrained by the abutments at either side. A viaduct ( ...

was structurally improved.

References

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External links

Burnham 310 Emporis Profile
Apartment buildings in Illinois Buildings and structures in Champaign, Illinois Residential buildings completed in 2008 University and college residential buildings Skyscrapers in Illinois Residential skyscrapers in Illinois 2008 establishments in Illinois {{Illinois-struct-stub