A proposed partnership with a health-care organization could help the New Lenox Park District build a bigger recreation center at a lower cost, a park official said last week.
Park Board President Bob McKenna said West Chicago-based IBIS will outline a proposal next month.
IBIS is one “two or three” health-care related organizations interested in participating in the building of a Park District recreation center.
With demand growing at a faster rate than revenues, Park District officials fear running out of space to house recreational programs.
A plan to issue bonds to finance an $11 million recreation center in the New Lenox Commons was defeated by voters in a referendum last year.
Park commissioners said they would downsize their recreation-center plan and try to secure voter approval for a lower-cost project.
But that may not be necessary. A business partnership would allow construction of a building “of the same magnitude” as the original proposal, but at a lesser cost, McKenna said.
The process of working out the details of a business partnership could be too lengthy to allow for a November referendum, McKenna said. The district is using facilities at Lincoln-Way High School’s Central Campus and in New Lenox Elementary School District 122.