A learning and tutoring center has applied for a special use permit to offer services in the North Grove Corporate Park I office complex in Morton Gove.
Apex Pediatric Services, which already operates in three other suburban locations, is seeking a special use permit to provide a variety of therapeutic services to children and adolescents with autism, and the Morton Grove Village Board heard the request at its May 14 meeting.
Morton Grove’s Community Development Administrator Brandon Nolin said the company wants to continue operating on more than 3,000 square feet at 8120 Lehigh Ave., located in the eastern half of the North Grove complex.
Nolin said Apex operates facilities in Gurnee, Lisle and Palatine in similar office campus environments. The firm opened in Morton Grove in 2023 and entered into a compliance and escrow agreement to obtain the required special use permit retroactively, he said.
Nolin said it was worth noting that a similar business, By Your Side Autism Therapy Services, 8145 River Drive, received a special use permit to operate in the western half of the North Grove complex in 2017, Nolin said.
The Morton Grove Traffic Safety Commission unanimously approved Apex’s request on April 4, he said, and the Plan Commission voted unanimously to recommend the firm’s request after a public hearing on April 16.
The Village Board is expected to approve the request at its May 28 meeting.
Trustee John Thill raised concerns about approving another business that does not produce sales taxes.
“This will be the third business, if I am correct, that is going in on Lehigh that is basically taking three areas off of our tax rolls,” Thill said. “These are services. They don’t produce taxes.”
Nolin said he was not sure if the previous tenant of the parcel generated sales taxes either.
“This is moving into an existing office space,” he said. “I don’t know if what was there before was producing sales tax.”
“We’ve got a badminton set coming in, a soccer outfit coming in and now we have this group coming in,” Thill replied. “So that’s three that I know of that basically we’ve lost any retail on. It’s all service industries.”
Village Administrator Ralph Czerwinski said most of the businesses in that particular zoning district, set aside for offices, research and manufacturing, don’t generate sales taxes.
“Most of these (new businesses) are replacing either warehousing, where no sales taxes were developed, or office space, where no sales taxes were developed,” Czerwinski said. “I don’t think there’s a loss in this situation. This is an opportunity to fill those spaces and make property taxes higher because they’re occupied.”
Village President Dan DiMaria said the new businesses also bring more people into Morton Grove.
According to a May 10 report from the Community and Economic Development Department, Apex is leasing 3,042 square feet, including a reception area, five exam rooms for patient visits and an administrative room.
Because therapy visits are scheduled, the maximum number of visitors and employees using the site at one time is six, the report said. But if patients are dropped off and others are picked up at the same time, as many as 16 could be present, it said.
Apex provides Applied Behavior Analysis therapy, speech therapy and occupational therapy to children and adolescents ages 2 to 18 years old, the report said. Most of the clients are between 4 and 9 years old, it said.
The business operates from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekdays and from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekends, the report said. The center could use as many as 16 parking spaces at one time, it said.
