Group offering programs, services for people with disabilities moving back to Mundelein
A nonprofit group that offers recreational programs and services for people with disabilities and their families will relocate to vacant space in Mundelein's village hall.
The Special Recreation Association of Central Lake County's pending move will bring the group back to Mundelein, where it operated from its founding in 1976 until going south to Vernon Hills in the mid-1990s. Its current offices are at 290 Oakwood Road, within Hartmann Park.
The Mundelein village board approved a lease agreement with the association at its meeting Monday night.
The second floor at village hall, 300 Plaza Circle, has been vacant since Weston Solutions, an environmental consulting and engineering firm, moved out last year.
Weston had leased the top floor since the hall opened in 2014. Village staffers occupy the first floor of the building.
The recreation association will occupy about 20% of the roughly 14,000-square-foot space on the second floor, documents indicate.
The group will pay Mundelein $2,753 a month in rent starting Aug. 1. That rate will increase to $2,965 per month in May 2024, to $3,176 per month in May 2026, to $3,388 per month in May 2027 and finally to $3,600 per month in May 2028.
The association is a cooperative group consisting of the Round Lake, Grayslake, Mundelein and Vernon Hills park districts and the villages of Lincolnshire, Lake Zurich, Hawthorn Woods and Libertyville.
It offers programs for kids, teens, adults and families, including camps, picnics, sports and social events.
The northward relocation will put the group closer to the geographic center of the communities it serves.
"It works really well for us and our staff," Director John Buckner said.
It has nine full-time employees and about 130 part-time workers, Buckner said.
The group's current headquarters need repairs, Buckner said.
Programs and services won't be affected by the move.
The group will begin moving into the Mundelein space in August and should be fully set in September, Buckner said.