Palatine shelter scales back plan for new building due to COVID-19
A Palatine nonprofit that serves individuals who are homeless, or at risk of losing shelter, scaled back its plans for a new building after the COVID-19 pandemic derailed fundraising efforts.
The current plan from the nonprofit JOURNEYS - The Road Home features a two-story, 18,200-square-foot building at 1140 E. Northwest Hwy. The previous plan called for a three-story, 27,000-square-foot building. JOURNEYS' current building of about 8,000 square feet would be demolished.
The budget is about $6.2 million, and construction is expected to begin in the spring, said Beth Nabors, the organization's executive director.
The new building's first floor will have a reception, staff offices, a clothing closet, food pantry, laundry services, and services such as job search assistance, literacy and computer skills training, crisis counseling, addiction treatment and more.
The second floor will have 47 shelter beds, an increase of five from the original plan, and seven affordable housing apartment units for families, a decrease of four from the original plan.
The village council unanimously approved the revised plan Tuesday.
Councilman Kollin Kozlowski asked whether a third floor could be added in the future if the nonprofit needed to grow further. Village Manager Reid Ottesen said the nonprofit would have to evaluate whether that's possible structurally, and any addition would need village council approval.
JOURNEYS' original plan was approved by the village council in March 2019. The nonprofit launched a capital campaign in February 2020, just before the pandemic hit.
The nonprofit "is very blessed" to have had the cooperation of firms HKM Architects and Power Construction, Nabors said.
"HKM Architects redesigned the building to meet all of our agency and client's needs. Power Construction and HKM put on their charitable hats and utilized different building materials and a value engineering focus and, as a result, we maintained all of the original program designs and will still was able to offer the community everything we originally promised with very slight adjustments."
JOURNEYS always has been debt-free, Nabors said. The nonprofit soon will relaunch its capital campaign and hopes not to have to use a construction loan it has secured as part of the $6.2 million project, she said.
"We need our community to help us bring this project to the finish line so that we can continue to provide free services to all those in need," she said.
A donor already gave a lead gift for naming rights to the building, said Suzanne Ploger, the nonprofit's director of development.
People can purchase bricks in memory or honor of someone and can sponsor, with naming rights, an apartment unit or other aspects of the building.
Donations are accepted at journeystheroadhome.org/donation-form.html; indicate the gift be directed to "Building for HOPE Capital Building Project." People also can donate by phone by calling Ploger at (847) 963-9163, ext. 120, or by mailing a check to 1140 E. Northwest Hwy., Palatine, IL 60074.