The plaza where the Savoy 16 theater is (framed by Curtis, Burwash, Dunlap/Neil, and Prospect) has really started to explode the past two years. Schnuck's, Pages for All Ages, BW3, Eastern Taste Buffet, Star Karaoke BBQ, Marble Slab Creamery, Subway restaurant, some banks, Body & Sole sporting goods, Babyland...
The North Prospect area in Champaign has really become a commercial district as well too, packed with your typical strip malls. Poor street layout makes the weekends there a little hectic. Dowtown Champaign has started to revitalize too; new businesses and construction moving in and lots of renovation as well.
I think it was the research park at the University that brought a lot of families and tech to the area. Motorola was there for a while, Intel, IBM, and some others, so that the town has definitely started to grow into more than just a "University support town" as my friend calls it. Nice to see it, because when I got here (in 1994) there was just Marketplace Mall and it was about to go under...that's been completely redone and expanded too. You should come back for a visit sometime and see the place!
Yeah I'm pretty happy here. I moved from the East Coast and will probably head back there eventually when I want to settle down for good, but I couldn't have asked for a more comfortable place to learn how to be an adult.