Nursing school takes over old Elgin Cracker Barrel

Like a physician healing a patient, a Crystal Lake-based nursing school is breathing new life into a shuttered restaurant on Elgin's north side.

J"Reneé Career Facilitation, Inc., a vocation school focused on health care programs, is expanding the former Cracker Barrel restaurant to nearly 16,000 square feet.

When completed in early 2011, the new facility will be able to serve 300 students, a jump from the 110 currently at its school at 7105 N. Virginia Road in Crystal Lake.

“We are relocating from our Crystal Lake facility, said Robert Farrell, executive assistant to Juanita Macklin, the president and CEO of J"Reneé. “The new location will provide us with an opportunity to get students from Chicago (and other areas).

Jack LLC, headed by Macklin, bought the building in November 2009. Cracker Barrel opened in Elgin in 1992 and closed several years ago.

Demolition on the Cracker Barrel's exterior finally began about two weeks ago. The building's new exterior will feature white brick and stucco, along with a parking lot of more than 150 spaces.

The new school will house five classrooms, a lab, a kitchen, a cafeteria, a computer lab, a managed playroom, library/lounge, a school store and administrative offices.

Farrell said the Crystal Lake facility will remain open well into next year for current students there to finish their courses.

J"Reneé teaches classes in basic nursing assistant training, practical nursing, phlebotomy, EKG and prerequisite courses of math, English and anatomy and physiology.