Willow Creek to build new Care Center

Willow Creek Community Church is planning yet another addition — albeit its first in nearly a decade — to bring its Hoffman Estates-based Care Center onto its main campus in South Barrington.

The Care Center, located for many years at 2080 Stonington Ave. in Hoffman Estates, provides emergency food and clothing assistance as well as health and legal advice, employment services and English as a Second Language classes.

“Bringing that onto our main campus makes sense from a practical standpoint and from a financial standpoint,” Willow Creek's Director of Campus Operations and Development Scott Troeger told the South Barrington village board Thursday.

The slight increase in size from the current leased facilities will also allow the Care Center to add limited dental and vision care as well as more room for children's clothing, Willow Creek spokeswoman Susan DeLay said.

Construction of the 37,000-square-foot addition will require the permission of both South Barrington and the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District.

The church's sewer and water service is actually purchased from Hoffman Estates and there will be only a negligible change from its current capacity needs, said Todd Shaffer, principal of Haeger Engineering in Schaumburg.

The church hopes to begin construction of the addition on the northwest side of the current building in the spring and the project will take from 10 to 12 months.

The addition will stretch to within 30 feet of an existing wetland and require the rerouting of an internal road on the 155-acre campus at Barrington and Algonquin roads.

The new Care Center will grow the building's current 295,000-square-foot footprint by 12.5 percent, and will be constructed in a consistent style of brickwork.

“Hopefully, it will be seamless,” Troeger said.

The church's last addition was its current auditorium, built in 2002, Shaffer said.

The Care Center has been attracting not only more clients during the economic downturn, but approximately 800 volunteers each month, he added.

The center has been successful in meeting the immediate needs of many struggling families, Troeger said.

The proposal must be reviewed by South Barrington's architectural control commission before coming back before the village board for final approval.

Even though Hoffman Estates provides Willow Creek's sewer capacity, it's South Barrington that must request permission from MWRD as the sewer lies within its municipal boundaries.