Politics & Government

Palatine Tables Quest Request To Buy Stripmall

The Palatine Village Council tabled a plan by Quest Academy to purchase a stripmall.

request to purchase a stripmall in Palatine was put on hold for at least one week by the Village Council.

Quest, 500 N. Benton St., has proposed buying the Palatine Centre shopping center at 47 E. Northwest Highway. The private school has an enrollment of about 300 and wants to buy the stripmall as an investment and also as space to expand the school's operations.

"Quite frankly from a staff standpoint we see the vibrant Quest occupying portions of the center as good for the center, good for the community," said Palatine Village Manager Reid Ottesen, adding that hopefully Quest would bring new life to the center.

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However, Ottesen said that the primary sticking point was what areas of the stripmall Quest could use for educational purposes.

"If we get into a lockdown situation, what I don't want to have happen is have our police officers responding to the scene where you have lockdown trying to guess [which parts of the stripmall are part of the school]," Ottesen said. "We would like to have contiguous space for Quest that keeps the school area segregated from the retail."

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Ottesen said that Quest had not said what they wanted to do with the additional space and it was difficult to give them "carte blanche."

Ottesen said another issue was incompatible uses.

"We can't think of another situation in Palatine where we have school children in close proximity to a bank or a jewelry store," Ottesen said.

Palatine and Quest did agree on some aspects of the plan. For example, Quest would only be allowed to use a maximum of 35 percent of the stripmall for educational purposes. Quest could use up to 50 percent if certain conditions were met.

Quest already rents and uses about 20 percent of the stripmall — for a preschool and a book store — however, there is a question as to whether village ever approved the use.

"The school does not own the space; it leased it from a landlord," Quest Academy attorney Jeffrey Jahns said. "It's the landlord who would require the zoning. Whether or not he received the zoning, I don't know."

The preschool already is separated from the book store, complicating the village's requirement. Also, Jahns said the requirement could cause other problems for Quest.

"You may have very viable tenants and you may not want to disturb those tenants and they may have a long-term lease," Jahns said, adding that Quest Academy could find itself blocked in and wants to have some flexibility for future expansion.

Ultimately, the village board decided to table the proposal for one week so that staff and Quest Academy official could work out the issue.

However, another portion of Quest's proposal was approved.

The school plans to develop a vacant lot between Plum Grove Road and Brockway Street. The school wants to build a natural turf athletic field and expand a parking lot. The plan includes a crosswalk across Plum Grove Road.

The property is located across the street from Quest Academy.

District 6 Council Member Brad Helms said that area of Brockway Street has endured flooding and said the project cannot add any additional water runoff.

"Ultimately are village engineers will have final say on this," Helms said.


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