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Buffalo Grove synagogue moving to new location, but staying in town

Buffalo Grove's Congregation Beth Am will be leaving its longtime location at 225 McHenry Road this summer to make way for the Buffalo Grove Park District's planned performing arts center.

The Reform congregation, however, will remain in Buffalo Grove, and has signed a three-year lease for a space at 1370 Abbott Court, according to a statement on its website. The new location will serve as the congregation's office and meeting space.

In the congregation's newsletter, Rabbi Lisa Sari Bellows described the changes as “a bittersweet time for us.”

“I, like all of us, am so very sad to have to say goodbye to our sanctuary and our beautiful building,” she writes. “This building was built, designed, decorated by you out of love for our community, the Jewish People and God. Our hearts, hopes and dreams are woven into the very fabric of this sacred space.”

A Beth Am official previously told village leaders the congregation would be moving out of its current space by the end of June, but would continue using the sanctuary there for services through the High Holy Days this fall.

In September, the park district agreed to pay $3.7 million for the 5.4-acre property that's been the congregation's home since 1999.

The park district plans to renovate the facility to create a 450-500 seat performing arts center that would serve as home to its theatrical productions. The center would typically host 12 major theater productions per year, each typically running for three nights.

The facility, which officials expect to have ready by 2014, also would include space for dance studios and a fine arts studio. It is expected that park district staff will also move into the facility.

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