Hoffman Estates considers Hindu retirement community, wellness center
A Hindu nonprofit organization hopes to build a retirement community in Hoffman Estates featuring 34 homes and a wellness center on 27 acres of currently unincorporated land at the southeast corner of Golf and Rohrssen roads.
The village would need to annex the property, which the nonprofit has already purchased, to have jurisdiction over the proposed project.
Nonprofit Shree Umiya Mataji Mandir KPS Chicago Midwest presented the proposal to Hoffman Estates village trustees Monday for an early courtesy review.
The strongest criticism from trustees concerned plans for both the wellness center and the residential subdivision to have only one access road each, along with an internal connecting street reserved for emergency vehicles only.
Himanshu Modi, president of Northbrook-based architectural firm Nova Design Build Inc., said it is not yet known how the Illinois Department of Transportation would treat a request for additional access points along Golf and Rohrssen roads.
The plan calls for the 34 homes around a ring road on the west side of the property and the 30,000-square-foot wellness center to the east.
"Our goal is to have two distinct areas," Modi said
The homes are expected to average 10,400 square feet, most of which will be single-story, and have a price range of $350,000 to $400,000. They will be age-restricted for residents 55 years old and up.
The wellness center would have a ground floor of 22,000 square feet that could be rented for weddings and community events, and a lower level of 8,000 square feet where prayers and other religious activities would be held. A parking lot with 408 spaces is planned.
Modi said the project intends to retain the natural grading of the site, including leaving the existing wetland area intact. Construction of the homes is expected to take two years.
Hoffman Estates trustees Monday asked for additional road access plans and a more detailed landscape plan. The village staff also voiced the need for traffic and parking studies, as well as more specific engineering and architectural plans.
"I like what you're doing here from a community perspective, but the design isn't working for me," Trustee Gary Pilafas said.
No time frame was given for a formal proposal being filed with the village.