Palatine’s Quest Academy eyes expansion

Quest Academy, a private school in Palatine that’s worked to expand the minds of gifted children for nearly 30 years, now is preparing for its own expansion.

The school at 500 N. Benton St. is set to purchase the adjacent Palatine Centre on Northwest Highway with plans to use the current retail space for offices and potentially classrooms.

Quest also wants to build an athletic field, basketball court and parking lot on a vacant wooded lot just a bit farther west, between Plum Grove Road and Brockway Street.

“We’re growing by leaps and bounds and are really committing to the Northwest suburbs,” said Head of School Ben Hebebrand, who held off on discussing details of the plan pending final approvals.

The Palatine Plan Commission Tuesday unanimously approved both proposals with several conditions. The village council will consider the plans at its Monday, Oct. 3 meeting.

The most significant of the conditions is that Quest can occupy only up to 35 percent of the adjacent strip mall; the school had hoped for up to half.

Kevin Anderson, Palatine’s assistant director of planning and zoning, said that because Quest is a tax-exempt entity, village officials wanted more of a commercial component to remain in order to generate revenue.

A few residents expressed concerns about traffic and flooding generated by the expansion, Anderson said. One neighbor who lives to the south on Comfort Street said water runoff from St. Theresa Parish and School already leads to frequent flooding, even when there is little rain.

However, village staff doesn’t feel traffic will be an issue, and both Palatine and Quest engineers are confident that placing water detention within the athletic field will be sufficient to prevent flooding.

In addition to the athletic field, basketball court and parking lot, Quest wants to use the property for outdoor science classes and gardens. The development also may include a concession structure, pavilion, scoreboard and restrooms.

A neighbor requested that low-level security lighting be installed at the field, but Quest and staff agreed that would only invite loiters at night.

Established in 1982, Quest now has nearly 300 students from about 50 communities in preschool through eighth grade.