North Central College will be buying the property and buildings currently owned by Little Friends Inc., enabling the non-profit to move to a new facility in Warrenville.
Little Friends began exploring the possibility of a move after realizing they needed more space to better serve their over 800 clients with developmental disabilities.
“During the past couple of years, we’ve seen the growth of the support to clients we provide to help reach 800 clients. With our aspirations to grow it became clear space would be an issue for us moving forward,” said Joe Briggs, president & CEO of Little Friends.
Little Friends has found a new space in Warrenville, near the intersection of Mill Street and Diehl Road, where they hope to open a facility in 2020.
With a new home in mind, they offered North Central College a chance to purchase back the four-acre property.
North Central took them up on the offer – though they’re not sure what they’ll be using it for just yet.
“I would emphasize that as we assess this opportunity, both myself and the board of trustees its with a long term hat on. He college is over 150 years old and we think it could be helpful as we think about the next 150 years of the college’s history,” said Troy Hammond, president of North Central.
North Central actually owned the property back in 1945, when it was used for dorms. It was leased to Little Friends in 1975 before the human services organization purchased it in 1989.
The college and Little Friends will be holding a neighborhood meeting to learn more about the purchase agreement on January 14 in the Wentz Science Center.
Naperville News 17’s Blane Erwin reports.
