Countryside nonprofit in Palatine to sell, relocate

The Countryside Association for People with Disabilities is a week or two away from selling its 8-acre Palatine facility and is looking for a new location in the same general area, according to association leadership.

The Palatine-based nonprofit serves around 200 clients, many of whom come to the facility to work subcontracted jobs, like packaging products or shredding documents.

Howard Reicheneker, the association's interim executive director, said the Countryside Foundation was approached about a year ago by a developer who wanted to buy some of its land, located at 21154 W. Shirley Road in Palatine, behind the Whole Foods on Route 12 and surrounded by trees.

"There has been a lot of back and forth with this," Reicheneker said. "Finally it came down to them purchasing the entire site."

Reicheneker did not name the buyer because they haven't yet closed on the property, but he said it is a shopping center developer who has done work in the area.

Jason Blake, the president of the Countryside Foundation board of directors, said the decision to sell the facility and land was done for economic reasons.

"Our board has always focused on what doing what's best for our clients," Blake said. "I believe that anyone else on the board would have done the same thing that we did."

Reicheneker said Countryside has one year from the day the final papers are signed to completely vacate the facility. He said the search has already begun for a new site that also gives the feeling of being a safe place in the country.

"You can never duplicate what you had, but as much as possible we would like a similar type of environment," Reicheneker said.

He said because so many of Countryside's clients are bused in, it is important to find a site that isn't too far away.

"We need to stay pretty much in the same general area," Reicheneker said, mentioning Lake Zurich, Rolling Meadows, Barrington and Buffalo Grove as places the organization is looking in and around. "We're trying to minimize the disruption in our clients' lives. They suffer from change in routine much more than we do."

Reicheneker said Countryside will provide the same programs and services for clients at the new location. He said the move means the organization can build the new site to suit clients' needs going forward, such as senior services.

"We're very optimistic about the future of the agency and ability to be able to provide more and better service," Reicheneker said.

Reicheneker said Countryside officials have notified their staff of the pending sale as well as their clients' parents and guardians.