Rolling Meadows buys strip mall space to expand social services
Backed by state grant funding, Rolling Meadows is spending $650,000 to buy a portion of a strip mall on Algonquin Road to house its revived and growing city human services department.
The city council this week inked a contract to purchase more than 5,300 square feet of long-vacant office space on the second and third floors of the shopping center at 2214 Algonquin Road, plus the first floor entry area, staircase and elevator used to access the upper floors.
The location — in the center of a building that’s home to a number of shops — is highly visible and will be more accessible to residents in need of social services, city officials say.
Since early 2024, the department has been operating out of a 750-square-foot apartment space within the East Park Apartments complex at 2260 Algonquin Parkway, along with office space at city hall. But officials say operations are constricted and they need a larger space to serve customers.
“The biggest obstacle to helping more Rolling Meadows residents is the size and location of our existing facilities,” said Natalia Nieves, the department’s director. “We are taking a significant step forward by creating a facility that is accessible, convenient and designed to deliver the services that support our community.”
The city retooled what had been a division of the police department early last year and expanded it into a municipal department of its own. Rebranded as the Rolling Meadows Neighborhood Resource Center, the city agency has offered summer camps, mental health programs, a teen support group, financial literacy workshops, immigration clinic, legal assistance, school tutoring and a food pantry.
Great Recession-era budget cuts put an end to an earlier iteration in 2009.
Services were utilized by 640 people in the first full year of department operations, tripling the amount of people served from when it was the smaller police social services outreach division.
Mayor Lara Sanoica said with the new facility, the city will continue to move from “reacting to community challenges to preventing them.”
“This newest commitment to human services will help us do more to support our residents’ well-being and public safety,” she said.
Design and development of the new space will begin later this year, ahead of its planned opening in 2026. Officials plan to spend another $470,000 on renovations, and the real estate contract requires — as a contingency to close — that the elevator within the city’s property is in working order and that the larger building is officially subdivided out.
To help with the purchase and interior build out costs, the city got $1.45 million in grants from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity: $950,000 earmarked in last year’s state budget with the help of Sen. Mark Walker, and $500,000 secured by Rep. Nicolle Grasse in the recently-approved budget.
A hike in the city’s home-rule sales tax approved by the city council in late 2023 — from 1% to 1.25% — provides a constant stream of revenue for department operations.