A woman seeking to start a massage therapy/spa business in Brookfield is asking the Village of Brookfield to amend its zoning code to allow the business in the Grand Boulevard commercial district.
While the zoning code states that massage-related businesses are prohibited in Brookfield’s commercial district, both village staff and the Plan Commission have thrown their support behind the change. The code, according to Assistant Village Manager Keith Sbiral, likely dates from at least the 1960s, when “massage parlors” came with visions of vice squad raids.
“The modern-day pampering spa concept didn’t exist around here probably before 10 years ago,” Sbiral said. “From an economic development perspective, if spas succeed, they’re really good generators of business and people coming into downtown.”
Sbiral said the revised code could would retain the protections afforded by the current one, but would allow commercial spas, as defined by Illinois state statute.
The Plan Commission, at its May 24 meeting, voted 6-0 to amend the zoning code to make commercial spas a permitted use in the Grand Boulevard commercial district and along the Ogden Avenue corridor. The village board will vote on the measure at its meeting on May 25 at 6:30 p.m. at village hall, 8820 Brookfield Ave.
The village board briefly considered the matter at its Committee of the Whole meeting on June 11, but no trustees expressed an opinion on it. Trustee Michael Towner noted that the Plan Commission “enthusiastically voted for the change.”
Forest Park resident Abby Brennan told the board she was interested in buying the single-family home at 3700 Grand Blvd. and converting it into a spa. Before moving forward on the purchase of the building, however, she wanted to make sure the business would be allowed there.
Brennan, a licensed massage therapist in Illinois since 2005, is a school teacher who works part-time at a spa called Urban Oasis, which has two locations in Chicago. Brennan told the village board that the home was perfect for the spa and that she hoped she could be in business by October.
“The space is exactly what I’ve envisioned,” Brennan said in a separate interview last week.
Brennan’s plan would be to operate the spa on the main floor of the home and rent the upper floor of the home for residential use.
“I want to take it slow, grow slowly and cater to the needs of Brookfield first,” Brennan said.
According to a business plan presented to the village board, Brennan wants to provide massage therapy to both men and women; sell products such as organic soaps, lotions, books and tea; and provide call-out massage services.
Brennan is a Riverside native who attended Hollywood School, Hauser Junior High and Riverside-Brookfield High School.
The home she is looking to purchase is one of just three historic homes still standing in the 3700 block of Grand Boulevard. The land is zoned for commercial use, so the home is currently a non-conforming use in the district.
The gambrel-roofed, two-story structure at 3700 Grand Blvd. was one of the original homes built in what was then Grossdale, a real estate development conceived by its founder, Chicago real estate mogul Samuel Eberly Gross. According to Brookfield historian Chris Stach, the home may have been built by Ernest B. Graham, an early associate of Gross’, who built several Dutch colonial style homes in the village.
In the early decades of the 20th century, the house was owned by Dr. C.V. Winsett, a physician and surgeon, who operated his practice out of the home. According to “Brookfield Illinois: A History,” it was Dr. Winsett’s wife who was issued library card No. 1 when the Brookfield Public Library opened in 1914.