From Storefront to Brand New Synagogue Building

Chicago Tribune

Rabbi Dovid Flinkenstein lights the menorah outside Chabad of Wilmette, 2904 Old Glenview Road. The congregation is planning to replace the four-unit storefront with a synagogue.

Approaching their 20th anniversary, Chabad of Wilmette members hope to someday be able to walk from their social room to the sanctuary without having to step outside.

The Jewish congregation was founded in 1992, but in 1994 moved into two units of a modest strip mall near Wilmette’s southwest corner, next to a beauty salon and dry cleaner. Five years ago, Chabad of Wilmette purchased the building and began expanding as its neighbors moved out.

Now, having received approval from the village, it plans to knock down the aging building to put up a one-story, 8,500-square-foot synagogue to house its offices, classrooms and sanctuary at 2904 Old Glenview Road.

And people will only enter the building once, said Rabbi Dovid Flinkenstein.

“The outside appearance of the building should reflect what we’re offering inside. And right now it just looks like an old storefront,” Flinkenstein said.

He said the new building isn’t intended to attract new congregants — about 30 attend weekly service, neighbors say it’s more — but it’ll be a more appropriate worship space than what they have now.

Other than its original two units on the east side of the building, the four storefronts do not interconnect and all come with their own kitchen and restrooms. At the end of its social room are three bookshelves, a couch and a table which is referred to as the library.

Tiled flooring and globe light fixtures still hang from the ceiling of the former beauty salon space, which is now used for Sunday school classes. Congregants worship in a sanctuary on Saturdays and during high holidays in the former dry cleaner, where light shines through the windows and two glass doors at the unit’s southern end.

But the center is more than a place to worship, Flinkenstein said. It’s a place where Sunday school classes are offered to about 50 children, with more on a waiting list. Evening classes during the week are offered to adults in a variety of topics.

They’re not exactly Hebrew history classes. Flinkenstein called them “contemporary classes about taking from the teachings and traditions within Judaism.” For instance, one upcoming class is called “money matters” and is intended to provide “age-old advice from the Torah on today’s economic crisis,” Flinkenstein said.

He said congregants are about two-thirds of the way toward a $2 million target to demolish its current building and construct the new one.

Wilmette trustees approved Chabad’s special use application and variance requests related to yard setbacks 6-1 at a Dec. 13 meeting. Trustee Bob Bielinski cited worries about how the new building will affect neighboring residents such as Barb Raymond, of the 100 block of Thelin Court.

Her house is immediately north of the proposed Chabad synagogue. The plans call for moving the building closer to her property line, and she fears it will block sunlight from pouring in her windows.

“When I purchased this home I was very well aware that it had an east exposure, a south exposure and a west exposure, and therefore allowing sun in my home the entire day,” Raymond said.

A synagogue closer to her house might block some of the light, she said.

“I would have to run lights all day long and with these (electricity) prices and all…,” she said, her voice trailing off.

The new building is designed to be will be lower than the existing one at its edges — bringing the height from 15.5 feet down to 13 feet, according to project architect Kiril Mirintchev. The center of the building, however, will rise to 20 feet at its peak, but a shadow analysis shows the impact will only impact Raymond’s home for four weeks out of the year.

Raymond also worries that the nine parking spots aren’t sufficient for the synagogue.

Flinkenstein and the Chabad have an agreement with Weinstein Funeral Home, just on the other side of Old Glenview Road, which provides ample parking on off-business hours.

But many of Chabad constituents, like Morton Friedman, walk to services and don’t need parking spots.

“We’re currently worshiping in a run-down storefront in a building that’s outlived its useful life,” Friedman said. “As a religious matter we certainly could continue to worship there, but it’s not very pleasant. The new building will be much more becoming for us and for the village of Wilmette.”

Trustees agreed that the proposed synagogue would enhance the neighborhood’s aesthetic, but many expressed concerns about garbage pick-up, parking and storm water issues.

However, those details will be dealt with during a Site Plan Review Committee process.

Village President Chris Canning said storm water management is key to the new building.

“You need to be able to retain the water on the site and not make it any worse than what exists right now,” he said.

But he applauded Chabad of Wilmette for a design that takes a location known as a former dry cleaner and visually improves the neighborhood.

“I think it’s a big improvement on a dry cleaner, with all due respect to dry cleaners,” Canning said.

Chabad of Wilmette was approved in 2009 to build a 2-story synagogue, but scrapped the plan when the economy took a downturn, Flinkenstein said.

He said a conservative estimate for the new synagogue’s opening would be in time for high holidays 2013.

“But we’re shooting for before then,” he said.

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