Sunnycrest Mall
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| Location | Urbana, Illinois, U.S. |
|---|---|
| Address | 1717–1815 South Philo Road, Urbana, Illinois 61801 |
| Opening date | c. 1968 |
| No. of floors | 1 |
| Public transit access | Champaign–Urbana Mass Transit District |
Sunnycrest Mall (also known as Sunnycrest Shopping Center or Sunnycrest Retail and Office Center) is a neighborhood strip shopping center in Urbana, Illinois, United States. It is located in the Philo Road Business District in southeast Urbana and was developed as part of the area's late 1960s suburban commercial expansion.[1][2] By the mid-1970s the center contained a mix of supermarket, small retailers, service businesses and an indoor craft and flea-market-style area known as Peddlers' Village, and it continued to house restaurants and small shops into the 1980s.[3][4][5][6]
History
The principal building now marketed as part of Sunnycrest Mall was constructed in 1968 as a one-story commercial structure within Urbana's Philo Road Business District.[1] By 1973, advertisements and “eating and drinking” listings in the Daily Illini show a supermarket, Sunnycrest IGA, operating at 1807 South Philo Road in the Sunnycrest complex.[3] During the mid-1970s, classified advertisements and display ads in the same paper regularly promoted Peddlers' Village, described as an attraction located inside Sunnycrest Mall in Urbana.[4][7] An obituary for local business owner Nicole Campbell in The News-Gazette later recorded that she opened the Sweet Nothings Quilt Shop at Peddlers' Village in Sunnycrest Mall in 1976, confirming the existence of the mall's indoor marketplace section.[5]
By the mid-1970s the mall also included restaurant tenants. Classified advertisements in the Daily Illini in 1976 and 1977 and a 1984 restaurant listing refer to The Lamplighter at Sunnycrest Mall, describing it as a full-service restaurant offering “Continental cuisine” with lunch and dinner hours; an undated menu in the Culinary Institute of America's Historical Menus Collection gives the Lamplighter's address as 1717 South Philo Road in Urbana.[8][9][6][10] In the 1990s, a sit-down restaurant called Kennedy's was listed in a dining guide at the complex, and a later interview with author Jasper Pierce recalled Kennedy's as having been “housed in Sunnycrest mall” before relocating to a golf-course setting.[11][12]
Professional offices also occupied space at the center. Business-directory listings and a Champaign County Bar Association directory from the 2000s place Follmer Law Offices in Suite 16 of the complex and describe its location as Sunnycrest Mall.[13][14]
By the mid-2000s, a Daily Illini report on the Philo Road shopping area described the parking lot in front of Sunnycrest Mall as quiet and the interior of the building as “empty except for a custodian,” noting that a mall directory listed seven vacant spaces and that a former Kmart across the street had boarded-up windows and an unlit parking lot.[15] A 2025 consolidated-plan document from the City of Urbana characterized the wider Philo Road Business District, which includes Sunnycrest, as an area that “has sometimes struggled to maintain business,” stating that it was once a major retail destination but has struggled in the decades following the construction of Market Place Shopping Center in nearby Champaign in the 1970s.[16]
Layout and present use
Sunnycrest Mall is a single-story strip-style center with surface parking fronting Philo Road.[17][2] Cindy's Guide to Living (cheaply) in Champaign–Urbana, published for University of Illinois students in the 2010s, describes Sunnycrest as a small strip mall that usually houses a specialized shop or two, a restaurant and smaller shops such as a dry cleaners, tanning salon or cell phone company, and lists it as part of the Philo Road Business District.[17][2] Real-estate listings from the late 2010s and 2020s market the property as a mixed retail and office complex, sometimes styled “Sunnycrest Mall Office Center”, with a combination of professional offices, small restaurants and other neighborhood-oriented businesses rather than a traditional enclosed regional shopping mall.[1]
Local media continue to reference Sunnycrest Mall in coverage of neighborhood businesses and events. In 2024, Champaign–Urbana magazine Smile Politely described First Wok, a Chinese restaurant in the center, as “a joint that’s been steadfastly serving up Chinese dishes for over 20 years.”[18] In 2025, Illinois Public Media reported that a Juneteenth parade organized by the nonprofit The Well Experience had grown from “a smaller sidewalk parade in the Sunnycrest Mall parking lot” into a city-supported event with community members and local businesses taking part, highlighting the mall’s ongoing use as a community gathering space.[19]
See also
- List of shopping malls in Illinois
- Market Place Shopping Center
- Urbana-Lincoln Hotel-Lincoln Square Mall
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "1717 Philo Road, Urbana, IL 61801". Realty.com. Realty.com. November 13, 2020. Retrieved November 28, 2025.
Former La Fiesta restaurant in Sunnycrest Mall […] Year Built: 1968.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Taylor, Cindy (2017). "Cindy's Guide to Living (cheaply) in Champaign–Urbana 2017" (PDF). Biophysics at Illinois. University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. p. 13. Retrieved November 28, 2025.
Sunnycrest Mall. 1717 S Philo Road, Urbana 384-5787 [...] Country Fair, Sunnycrest, and Market View are not enclosed, but have a few stores and places to eat/drink.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 "eating and drinking". Daily Illini. Champaign, Illinois. September 11, 1973. Retrieved November 28, 2025.
Sunnycrest IGA, 1807 S. Philo Rd., Urbana.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Display advertisement: Peddlers' Village". Daily Illini. Champaign, Illinois. December 9, 1976. Retrieved November 28, 2025.
at PEDDLERS' VILLAGE [...] SUNNYCREST MALL URBANA.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Campbell, Nicole A. (October 14, 2008). "Nicole Campbell obituary". The News-Gazette. Champaign–Urbana, Illinois. Retrieved November 28, 2025.
She opened Sweet Nothings Quilt Shop at Peddlers Village in Sunnycrest Mall in Urbana in 1976.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 "Restaurant and entertainment listings". Daily Illini. Champaign, Illinois. August 3, 1984. Retrieved November 28, 2025.
Lamplighter 384-8111 Sunnycrest Mall U Lunch 11:30 am–2 pm Mon–Fri 5 pm–10 pm Sat 5 pm–11 pm Continental cuisine.
- ↑ "Display advertisement". Daily Illini. Champaign, Illinois. April 21, 1977. Retrieved November 28, 2025.
COUNTRY FAIR SHOPPING CENTER CHAMPAIGN – SUNNYCREST MALL [...].
- ↑ "Classified advertisements". Daily Illini. Champaign, Illinois. September 24, 1976. Retrieved November 28, 2025.
Lamplighter Sunnycrest Mall Urbana.
- ↑ "Classified advertisements". Daily Illini. Champaign, Illinois. October 28, 1977. Retrieved November 28, 2025.
The Lamplighter is re-opening for lunch and needs waitresses, waiters and a dishwasher. Call for appointment or come in between 10–4. 384-8111 Sunnycrest Mall.
- ↑ "Lamplighter, evening summer menu". Historical Menus Collection. Culinary Institute of America. Retrieved November 28, 2025.
Lamplighter, 1717 South Philo Road, Urbana, Illinois.
- ↑ Parkland Track takes regionals (PDF) (Report). Parkland College. Retrieved November 28, 2025.
Kennedy's. 1717 S. Philo Rd. Urbana, IL. 384-8111. Rustic American, moving towards contemporary with a new location to come. American Cuisine.
- ↑ Pierce, Jasper (October 13, 2008). "Steal Stuff From Work: An Interview with Author Jasper Pierce". Smile Politely. Retrieved November 28, 2025.
The restaurant Eisenhower’s as a setting is modeled after Kennedy’s, back before it became a tasteful golf course restaurant and was housed in Sunnycrest mall, dark and windowless, with an authentic aura of creepy malice.
- ↑ "Follmer Law Offices". Yellow Pages. Retrieved November 28, 2025.
Address: 1717 Philo Rd, Urbana, IL 61802 … Location: Sunnycrest Mall.
- ↑ Champaign County Bar Association Directory (PDF) (Report). Champaign County Bar Association. Retrieved November 28, 2025.
Follmer Law Offices. 1717 Philo Road, #16. Urbana, IL 61802.
- ↑ Sandstrom, Nate (March 16, 2005). "Urbana plans new uses for shopping area". Daily Illini. Champaign, Illinois. Retrieved November 28, 2025.
In the parking lot in front of Sunnycrest Mall in southeast Urbana, it is quiet enough to hear a dog barking in the distance. Inside, the mall is empty except for a custodian. A directory lists the offices and shops that reside in the building; seven spaces are listed as 'vacant.'
- ↑ City of Urbana & Urbana HOME Consortium Consolidated Plan 2025–2029 (PDF) (Report). City of Urbana. 2025. p. 96. Retrieved November 28, 2025.
The Philo Road Business District in Southeast Urbana has sometimes struggled to maintain business; once a major retail destination, it has struggled in the decades following the construction of Market Place Mall in Champaign in the 1970s.
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 Taylor, Cindy (2015). "Cindy's Guide to Living (cheaply) in Champaign–Urbana 2015" (PDF). Biophysics at Illinois. University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. p. 13. Retrieved November 28, 2025.
Sunnycrest Mall. 1717 S Philo Road, Urbana 384-5787 [...] These malls usually house a specialized shop or two, maybe a restaurant, and then smaller shops like a dry cleaners, tanning salon, or a cell phone company.
- ↑ Basi, Mindy (February 13, 2024). "First Wok Chinese is a gem worth seeking out". Smile Politely. Retrieved November 28, 2025.
First Wok in Sunnycrest Mall Urbana at first glance seems no different, a joint that’s been steadfastly serving up Chinese dishes for over 20 years.
- ↑ Mosqueda, Stephanie (June 20, 2025). "Celebrating freedom and heritage: Nonprofit brings Black community together for Juneteenth". Illinois Public Media Newsroom. Retrieved November 28, 2025.
What began last year as a smaller sidewalk parade in the Sunnycrest Mall parking lot grew into a city-supported event, with community members asking to join and local businesses offering support.
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