Home for kids looks to expand

Allendale officials are hoping to recharge the school's 111-year-old Lake Villa campus with a new gymnasium, cafeteria, therapy center and maintenance building.

The school, which serves hundreds of troubled children from across the state, has embarked on a $14 million capital campaign that officials say is necessary to accommodate growth.

"We're always fixing, but now we need to start building," said Joan Carter, director of development and public relations. "In order to meet the needs of our kids and the intensity of their needs, we have to improve our facility so we can be around for another 100 years."

Located on 120 acres on Grand Avenue just east of Route 59, Allendale is home to more than 100 males and females aged 7 to 21, and serves 70 others with a specialized day school.

The Allendale Association also has group homes in Waukegan and Highland Park and a residential facility in Wisconsin, making it the largest institution of its kind.

Carter said Allendale officials have been discussing improvements to the Lake Villa campus for at least two years but have just launched the public fundraising campaign. So far, the school has raised about $500,000 on its own.

Evanston-based architectural firm Behles and Behles has been hired by the school to draw up plans for the new buildings.

One of the top things on officials' wish lists is a new gymnasium. Allendale's gymnasium was built in 1913 and designed to serve 40 boys. The gym was remodeled in 1964 to accommodate 40 more, but it is still considered inadequate since the population has more than doubled and a second locker room for girls has never been added.

Also on the list is a new cafeteria, to replace the cafeteria built in 1911.

This week, Lake Forest-based Shelter Club, Allendale's largest private donor, pledged $2 million toward the new cafeteria.

"Donations like this are hugely important," Carter said. "We can't rely on any one particular group, or the state or a corporation or private donation. We need every dollar we can get from every entity to make this happen."

Allendale would also like a designated therapy building and maintenance building.

While officials have their preference of which buildings should go up first, the order of the project will depend on how donations are received.

With $2 million earmarked for the cafeteria, that will likely be the first constructed. The new cafeteria will cost just over $3 million, said Jordan Luhr, Allendale's vice president of development.

"It all depends on how the donations come in," Luhr said. "We won't build until the funding is in place, and we anticipate that most donations will be earmarked for a specific purpose."