Champaign County has filed two delinquent-tax foreclosure complaints against the former Urbana University campus, moving to collect hundreds of thousands of dollars in unpaid taxes on a property where 12 to 14 basketball players and a couple of coaches were living as recently as March 2025. The lawsuits cover 29 separate parcels that make up the old campus and name nine defendants, including the property's current owner and Franklin University, which ran the site in its final years.
The complaints were filed in Champaign County Common Pleas Court, according to urbanacitizen.com. The amount owed is described differently depending on the source: the Springfield News-Sun reports the county is seeking $428,437.71 in unpaid taxes across the 29 parcels, while urbanacitizen.com reports that delinquent and current taxes, special assessments, interest and penalties together total nearly $430,000 as of the filing date.
Nine Defendants Named in the Case
The two complaints name nine total defendants, a group that includes Urbana Investment Group LLC, Franklin University and seven other creditors, per urbanacitizen.com's reporting. Franklin University operated the Urbana campus as a branch location until it closed in May 2020, according to information published by franklin.edu. Franklin later sold the property to Urbana Investment Group LLC in December 2022, based on county auditor records cited by the same report.
The defendants will be served notice of the complaints, and the case can move forward from there. The report notes that Urbana Investment Group LLC's last tax payment on the property came on November 7, 2024, nearly two years before the foreclosure filings.
Prosecutor Cites Legal Duty to Pursue Collection
Champaign County Prosecutor Kevin Talebi, whose office filed the complaints on behalf of the county treasurer, said pursuing foreclosure is part of the office's obligations when property owners fall behind. “We have a duty to pursue the remedies provided by law,” Talebi said, according to the same account. Ohio law requires county prosecutors to institute foreclosure proceedings in the treasurer's name once a property appears on a delinquent tax certificate or master list, unless the amounts owed are paid or another authorized process applies, according to the Ohio Revised Code.
If the debt goes unpaid and no other action is taken, the 29 parcels could eventually be offered at a sheriff's sale, the report states. Champaign County's sheriff holds tax sales on the first floor of the county courthouse at 200 North Main Street in Urbana, according to the Champaign County Sheriff's Office. Any purchaser at such a sale must pay the full purchase price the same day, and while a winning bid is a legally binding contract, ownership does not actually transfer until the deed is recorded.
Campus Has Faced Other Legal Trouble
This is not the first legal dispute tied to the vacant campus. The City of Urbana filed a separate complaint last year against Jared Pitt and Urbana Investment Group LLC over fire-code violations at the property, seeking injunctive relief, damages or a lien, according to Peak of Ohio. The city sought $17,500 in initial civil fines plus $100 per day per violation dating back to January 8, 2025, and reported that all open violations remained uncorrected as of a re-inspection on May 21, 2025.
For now, the tax foreclosure case adds another layer of legal pressure on a campus whose Franklin University branch operations ended there in 2020. Whether the defendants respond, settle the debt, or let the matter proceed toward a sheriff's sale remains to be seen as the case moves through Champaign County Common Pleas Court.
