Palatine approves Quest Academy’s shopping center purchase
After taking another week to hammer out some issues, Quest Academy now has the village of Palatine’s go-ahead to take over an adjacent shopping center, albeit with several conditions.
The private school for gifted children will purchase Palatine Centre on Northwest Highway, mainly for investment purposes now and possible expansion later.
“It’s our intention to operate this center as a business, to make a profit for the equity Quest is investing,” Quest representative Curtis Maas said. “We don’t have a plan right now to do anything beyond that.”
Last week, the council approved Quest’s proposal to construct a western athletic campus at Plum Grove Business Park between Plum Grove Road and Brockway Street after officials were satisfied efforts would be made to curb water runoff.
However, the village had safety concerns about students being spread throughout the commercial center, as well as economic concerns that Quest, a tax-exempt organization, would take the place of too many revenue-generating businesses.
The compromise reached Monday calls for any future student uses to be contiguous to either the office or preschool tenant spaces Quest already operates in the center. And should the academy reach 35 percent occupancy in Palatine Centre, the student functions must be relocated to the eastern part of the building closest to the school.
Another key condition states that Quest can occupy a maximum of 50 percent of the center, with the village having to approve any expansion beyond 35 percent.
Currently, the plan is for Quest to run Palatine Centre as a separate for-profit entity and pay rent to it as a tenant. The village council insisted on implementing another condition requiring Quest to seek approval should it pursue nonprofit status for the commercial venture or seek any kind of tax relief.
“If something should change at a later date, I think we should at least be open to having council review,” Councilman Aaron Del Mar said.
School officials didn’t feel the condition was necessary, though they ultimately agreed to it.
“It’s not something we anticipated,” Maas said. “Our plan is to own and operate the center as a retail center, make a profit and help the tenants be successful, which generates economic benefits for the village.”