Keshet seeks design and signage approval for Central Avenue site; commission asks for more sign detail

Keshet, a Highland Park nonprofit that provides services to people with disabilities, presented proposed exterior and site changes for the tenant space at 791–799 Central Avenue and asked the Plan and Design Commission for design-review guidance and a future sign-package approval. The commission accepted staff’s recommendation that additional materials and sign-package details be provided and directed staff to draft a certificate of approval and return the item at the commission’s October 21 meeting.

Keshet’s representatives said the project would add a two-story gym addition and a new entry canopy to improve visibility from Central Avenue, create a small plaza with planters and benches where parking now sits, and reconfigure some parking including relocating ADA stalls. “The gym addition is intended to be a signal for Keshet and to allow our participants to have covered drop-off and more usable indoor space,” said Jen Phillips, Keshet’s president and CEO. Architect Alec Thornton described a copper-patina panel above a retained brick second level and said the canopy has been set to preserve fire-truck turning radii.

Staff flagged outstanding items for the commission’s review: verification of vehicular street-frontage requirements (Article 23, section 150.23.05(b)); a before-and-after elevation and net parking calculations if surface spaces are removed; demonstration that building set‑backs will meet the 10‑foot and 20‑foot requirements on the west and north property lines; clarification whether existing ground signs will be replaced or remain; dimensions and illumination method for each ground- and monument-sign face; and a planting island at a former drive‑through location. Staff noted the building’s roofline calculation (a 9‑foot parapet/roof increase, described by staff as more like a 6‑foot visible increase depending on the reference point) needs clearer elevation exhibits.

Keshet and its team said the organization bought the building to expand programs and allow some residents to age in place. Carrie Leonard, Keshet’s owner’s representative, said the design aims to encourage pedestrian access through the site to adjacent Sunset Park and to separate drop‑off traffic from other tenant pickup/drop‑off activity. The applicant’s materials show the existing tenant wall‑sign area at about 99.5 square feet and a proposed total wall‑sign area of about 234.2 square feet (a net increase of roughly 134.7 square feet), but staff said sign-area totals are still subject to clarification on which existing signs would be replaced.

Commissioners generally praised the material palette and the proposed plaza and benches, but asked for clarifying exhibits, parking calculations, verification of setbacks, a landscaping island in place of one parking space, and a finalized sign package showing dimensions and illumination method. Vice Chair Kirsch moved—and Commissioner Fettner seconded—to direct staff to draft a certificate of approval and continue the application to Oct. 21; the roll call vote carried.

The commission did not approve final design or sign details at the meeting; staff will return with revised plans, the requested exhibits and a draft certificate of approval for the commission’s October 21 packet.