Work is underway on the $13.2 million transfomation of an old Carpentersville school into the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Northwest Suburbs’ new Woodlands Impact Center for middle and high school students.

After a “wall-breaking” event last month, construction is on track to have the old Woodlands Elementary School open as the new teen center by August, Chief Operating Officer Amanda Schleede said.

“It really became one of my biggest things on my to-do list, as the new CEO, to get the project moving and open as soon as possible,” Schleede said.

The Boys & Girls Clubs bought the vacant school at 775 Navajo Drive, in 2024 from Barrington School District 220.

The 40,000-square-foot building opened as an elementary school in 1950 and was used later as Hickory Hill Middle School in the 1980s. It’s been empty since 2010.

Some demo and remediation work was done last year, but construction stalled while the nonprofit searched for its new chief executive director. Schleede assumned the job in June.

Woodlands Impact Center will be geared toward middle and high school students who attend Barrington District 220 and Community Unit School District 300, which serves students in Carpentersville, Algonquin, Lake in the Hills and Hampshire. It will be able to accommodate up to 550 teens per day.

The current impact center is at Perry Elementary School, 251 Amarillo Drive, in Carpentersville. It provides after-school and summer programming to about 200 members.

The Boys & Girls Clubs of the Northwest Suburbs held a wall-breaking event to launch construction on its new Woodlands Impact Center, 775 Navajo Drive, in Carpentersville. The target completion date to finish converting an old middle school into the new facility is August, the clubs’ CEO says. (Mike Sein/Boys & Girls Clubs of the Northwest Suburbs)

Among the amenities in the new center will be a BuildLab and Create Lab for hands-on learning and creativity, a TechLab for podcasting and recording, a Culinary Lab for life and work skills training, a gym for athletics and recreation, and a Community Resource Center for counseling, food, clothing and possibly medical services, Schleede said.

“We are bringing some cool things to Woodlands that we have now, but will be supersized,” she said.

For example, the new commercial kitchen will allow the club to create a full culinary program, she said. Members will learn how to cook in their daily lives while also learning how to work in a kitchen and take and complete orders, she said. They plan to work with Elgin Community College on the program.

These are “spaces where teens can come and have a safe environment and hang out with friends while participating in an enrichment program,” Schleede said.

The center is being funded with donations and grant money, including $2 million from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Schleede is determined to have the center open by next August, and fundraising continues, Schleede said.

“We have our full capital campaign to finish up. We have $5.3 million that we still need to raise to complete the project,” she said.

The organization has been doing fundraisers throughout the year. The next one — the 2nd annual Great Futures Gala-Denim & Diamonds — will be held Saturday, Feb. 21, at the Wickstrom Autogroup-Lincoln Dealership in Barrington. Tickets are available at bgcnws.org/events/denim-diamonds-2026.

“One hundred percent of funds raised are for Woodland,” Schleede said.

There are also naming opportunities for rooms in the building and programs.

“This is a way for individuals and businesses to provide the teens with a place where the community can come together with a shared purpose and create brighter futures,” she said.

Gloria Casas is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/22/boys-girls-club-impact-center-carpentersville/