Buffalo Grove will get a new Reform Jewish temple next year, now that Congregation Beth Am has received the go-ahead to move into the Crate & Barrel store at 225 McHenry Rd.
The Village Board approved the move 4-2 at Monday night’s meeting. The congregation plans to be in the building by next summer, in time for the High Holidays, said its president, Marianne Shure.
Beth Am’s new home will have a social hall, chapel, library, youth lounge, 20 classrooms and a 275-seat sanctuary that can expanded to accommodate 900 during the High Holidays.
Beth Am is currently in Wheeling but has outgrown its current building, said attorney Marc Schwartz, who represented the congregation before the Village Board.
Since July 1995, membership has increased by 200 families, most of them from Buffalo Grove.
It has been searching for a new home for three years and recently agreed to buy the Crate & Barrel building from its owner, Harry Seigle.
William Reid and Charles Hendricks, the two trustees who voted against the new synagogue, said they did so because they were opposed giving up a commercial property.
With a synagogue on the land instead of a retail store, the village will lose about $15,000 a year in taxes.
Even though Crate & Barrel gave up on the location, Reid said, “that does not make me believe the site does not have economic potential.”
