WELCOME BACK, ILLINI!
THE DAILY ILLINI
MONDAY August 27, 2018
The independent student newspaper at the University of Illinois since 1871
WWW.DAILYILLINI.COM
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Vol. 148 Issue 1
KENYON EDMOND THE DAILY ILLINI
Campus bars The Clybourne and Firehaus, both located on Sixth Street, are scheduled to close on Sept. 4. Owner Scott Cochrane plans to bring the popular deals from the two locations to KAM’s, another campus bar that he and three other buyers recently purchased.
KAM’s to take over ‘best’ of Firehaus, The Clybourne on Champaign to approve the liquor license. Cochrane applied for the liquor license Aug. 20, so the bar is expected to be open by the end of the month. He’s hoping to have the bar open before Cly’s and Firehaus close on Sept. 4. “The opportunity fell into place,” he said. Cochrane was close to buying KAM’s 10 years ago — and even ran it one Greek Reunion Weekend. But the deal fell through. His connection, though, comes from his time working there as a freshman at the University. There’s no major remodeling planned for now, he said. “I hope to carry the tradition and make it even better,” Cochrane said. Jason Reda, bar manager, agrees. “If anything, we’re adding to the location,” he said.
BY JESSICA BURSZTYNSKY SENIOR REPORTER
As Champaign-Urbana bar tycoon Scott Cochrane closes his two Sixth Street bars, Firehaus and The Clybourne, he plans to keep the “best” of the businesses alive at KAM’s. KAM’s, located just a block over on Daniel Street, will bring back Cly’s Tuesday night Wine Night and Firehaus’s Wednesday night karaoke and Sharkbowls. “We want to take the best of Haus and Cly’s and bring it here,” Cochrane said. Cochrane, along with three other buyers, acquired KAM’s in August from longtime owner Eric Meyer and closed the property for “major clean-up.” His team grouted the floors, replaced the ceilings and filled six different dumpsters in the process so far. Even the infamous KAM’s smell — which nor- ‘It has to change.’ mally radiates down Daniel Cochrane confirmed the Street — is gone. sale of Firehaus (operating Now they’re just waiting under different names in the
Dockless bicycles present new campus transportation option BY ERIC RZESZUTKO STAFF WRITER
The company VeoRide is hoping to introduce its dockless bike sharing service to campus in the fall, said Linda Jackson, communications director for the company. “(Students) will have access to healthy, sustainable transportation that builds community. The campus and community’s bike-friendly infrastructure definitely helps make a bike-share a viable option,” Jackson said. Students and people in the surrounding community who do not have access
to their own bikes or other modes of transportation will be able to use the VeoRide bikes, said Ben Leroy, associate planner for the City of Champaign. Though not approved yet, Leroy said licenses should be approved from the cities of Champaign and Urbana within the next few weeks. Students around the Champaign-Urbana area can find the dockless bikes on campus using an app. The dockless bikes can be located anywhere on campus. However, users are expected to RED LION
SEE BIKES | 3A
INSIDE LEGENDS
ILLINI INN
Looking to expand on a Sweet 16 run
Despite closings, bar scene remains strong
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past) and Cly’s, which have been in his name for almost two decades, on Aug. 10. But rumors of the sale have been circulating since April of this year, as the Champaign City Council voted to approve the acquisition of the public alley north of Cly’s to CORE, a Chicago-based development firm.
“I hope to carry the tradition, and make it even better.” SCOTT COCHRANE BAR OWNER
“We’re typically not going to stand in the way of somebody that wants to bring businesses and bring economic development to our community, so usually we’re going to go for that,” said City Council member Greg Stock at April’s meeting.
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business is business and the “opportunity came” to sell to CORE. Tom Harrington, CORE’s director of acquisitions, declined to comment, but said the group will be releasing much more information this week.
City Council documents indicate the 17-story highrise will take over 300,000 square feet, leaving the first floor for commercial area and the upper floors residential. While Cochrane remained tight-lipped about what’s next in store for him, he did confirm he has been looking at properties and has been in meetings to discuss reopening Firehaus and Cly’s, but possibly under different names. He’s planning to open next year. Cochrane knows his two bars are campus staples and closing them will affect the campus bar culture. “It has to change,” he said, since he knows there are two less bars for students to go to.
now empty space, just a few doors down, which would allow him to sell or revamp both properties on the same block. That’ll be some time, though, since business is still good, said Reda. The business of turning bars into luxury residential spaces isn’t new to campus. In 2016, the Champaign County Zoning Board approved a developer’s request to increase the size of the lot where the Illini Inn was located. But even then, plans were made to reopen the Inn and add housing on the upstairs levels. The city approved a special-use permit in 2017 to allow for renovations on both the Illini Inn and the residential area, since it was only zoned for residential use. The Illini Inn — which has been serving alcohol since the 1960s — was demolished last summer.
Continuing traditions: From KAM’s to Illini Inn
Cochrane wouldn’t rule out the closing of KAM’s for the construction of a commercial-residential property in the future. He also owns C.O. Daniels, a former bar and
SEE BARS | 3A
UGL hours change for fall semester
New UGL hours
BY KAREN LIU NEWS EDITOR
Students will no longer be able to study overnight at the Undergraduate Library, given the changes in library hours starting this semester. Previously open 24 hours for four days a week, the UGL is going to be open from 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 a.m. from Monday to Thursday, while Friday hour is from 7:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. The Saturday hours will be from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., while the Sunday hours will be expanded to from 10 a.m. to 2:30 a.m. According to David Ward, head of the UGL, analysis of the late-night hours showed that very few students are in the UGL building after 2:30 a.m. The number drops down to a couple dozen or even single digits during KAM’S some hours. “In consultation with the Grainger Engineering Library, we determined sometimes until as late as that they had enough space 3 a.m. and capacity to accommoBorbely said in an email date any students wanting he notices many students BROTHERS to study in a library space stay late on a regular basis during the 24-hour over- and he has friends who do night period,” Ward said MURPHY’S in the same. an email. “2:30 a.m. sounds fine for The Grainger Engineer- weekdays, as I don’t stay ing Library Information much longer than that usuCenter will remain open 24 ally, but 9:00 p.m. on weekhours for five days a week ends is a bit frustrating,” he starting Sept. 10. said. “I know people go out Andrew Borbely, sopho- to bars and parties on weekmore in ACES, often stud- ends, but I’ll occasionally ies at the UGL late at night, have a test or project due
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“I don’t think it’s our place to say, ‘Well, you can’t sell your business because we know that some people like it,’ so, you know, we’re kind of stuck on that one,” Stock said. “If the business owner is willing to sell to someone, that is between the business owner and the buyer.” For Cochrane, he knows
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Monday - Thursday
7:30 a.m. - 2:30 a.m.
Friday
7:30 a.m. - 9 p.m.
Saturday
10 a.m. - 9 p.m.
Sunday
10 a.m. - 2:30 a.m.
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TONI PANTONE THE DAILY ILLINI
Monday and I like to study late nights on the weekends in those cases.” Ward said the shift to an earlier closing time allows the library to shift staff and resources back toward the 7 p.m. to 1 a.m. time period, when the library sees high levels of usage of technology and library-specific services. “We plan to keep our new schedule for at least a few years, during which time we will continue to moni-
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tor use of the building and services, and stay in consultation with other libraries to make sure there is adequate 24-hour study space for students,” he said. Ward said the UGL is also steadily increasing access to technology for media production over the past several years to meet the high demand from students. The loanable technology collection expanded to include SEE UGL | 3A
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buzz
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