A key step of demolition is expected to begin this month at 799 Central Avenue, as nonprofit Keshet — which provides services for children and adults with mental and physical disabilities — builds its new permanent center in Highland Park.
Structures related to the building’s previous bank tenant will be removed, according to a news release. Interior renovations are expected to be finished in the fall of 2026. The 210,000-square-foot building, which also has several offices and salons, will see about 40,000 square feet transformed into the Kersten Campus and Justin Coe Center, CEO and President Jen Phillips said.
The multi-million dollar renovation work will provide a new home to an organization that has “hopped around” the community for decades, Phillips said.
Started in 1982 by a group of area parents who wanted to help their children with disabilities, Keshet has grown in scope and scale, providing a variety of services and activities for about 560 children and adults with physical and intellectual disabilities.
Keshet has various recreation and art programs, including weekend trips, camps, day schools for a range of ages, and adult day programs, with offices and facilities in rented spaces. Now, the new location will be “universally designed,” Phillips said, to go “beyond accessibility” and have a building for people with various disabilities.
The organization has grown in recent years, necessitating the new facility, she said.
“The board laughed at me five years ago when I said that we needed to get a bigger business office space,” Phillips said.
The new facility will have a variety of spaces, including a music therapy room with its own recording studio, training kitchens, Keshet’s consolidated offices, and a gymnasium. The building has immediate access to a neighboring park and a parking garage.
Renovations will cost about $10.5 million, Phillips said, roughly half of the $20 million raised to buy and update the building. The fundraising campaign’s success reflected the community’s investment in the organization, she argued.
“I really, truly believe Keshet has impacted so many people,” she said. “It’s not just about the people who are receiving services. Everyone’s part of our community, and has been touched by it.”
Amy Cutler is a Deerfield mother whose oldest daughter, Hannah — who turns 12 in January — was diagnosed with cerebral palsy as a baby.
“We knew that she was going to need some adaptive recreation activities and support in her daily life,” Cutler said.
Cutler had known about Keshet already, having worked for the organization in college. She knew her daughter would need accommodations, Cutler said, and Keshet has kept Hannah active and social. Her daughter plays baseball, bowls, and goes to Sunday school and day camp.
“She needs a lot of support in all aspects of her life, but particularly physically,” Cutler said.
One of the big things for families who have kids with disabilities is trust, she said. Signing up their child who needs extra support and can’t necessarily advocate for themselves can be worrisome. And for Hannah specifically, her physical disability means many facilities aren’t accessible. Cutler praised Keshet’s new facility.
“Sometimes she can get in the front door, but there’s nowhere for her to use the toilet or be changed if she needs to,” Cutler said. “Having accessible facilities adapted so that everybody can use them, I think, is going to be really exciting.”
Cutler reflected on how attitudes around physical and mental disabilities have shifted over the years, even within her daughter’s lifetime. Today, people are much more committed to being inclusive, she said.
“It’s definitely changed. It’s still a ways to go, I would say, but definitely better,” she said.
