Stepping Stones Joliet showcases renovations at treatment center

A Joliet residential substance abuse treatment center held an open house on Thursday to showcase its upgrades and remodeling.

Extensive renovations at Stepping Stones Treatment Center, 1621 Theodore St., included a new HVAC system, roof, siding, insulation, workout room, and five new beds for a total of 56 beds, said Stepping Stones Executive Director Paul Lauridsen.

“We also added fully handicapped accessible bedrooms,” Lauridsen said in an email.

The total cost was $3.5 million, Lauridsen said.

Stepping Stones funded the project with two $500,000 capital improvement grants, $80,000 in CARES funds, $700,000 from the American Rescue Plan and a $240,000 Human Services Capital Investment Program grant, Lauridsen said.

He said both the city of Joliet and Will County helped Stepping Stones receive funding for the renovations.

“We’re happy to have the relationship that we have with both the city and the county,” Lauridsen said.

The balance of the funds came from Stepping Stones operational reserves, he said.

“We wanted to try to do the work and continue to operate. We started out with that approach and quickly saw that was not really feasible.”

—  Paul Lauridsen, executive director, Stepping Stones Treatment Center, Joliet

In terms of renovation, people might notice the new siding right away.

“That was all original siding from when it was a Howard Johnson motel, which was built in the ‘60s,” Lauridsen said. “We replaced the siding and the windows — adding insulation into that — and a new roof, which people don’t necessarily see.”

Lauridsen said “a big part of the expense” was replacing the old HVAC system with individual units. This was necessary because the former boiler heating system was not expected to be functional within the next couple of years, he added.

“We did replace all of the furnishings in the client rooms and common area,” Lauridsen said. “We got rid of all the carpet and put in vinyl plank flooring.”

Lauridsen said the carpeting was not the original carpeting.

“But what we had in there had to be redone,” Lauridsen said. “Around the time of COVID, people discovered that carpet was not good in terms of providing a sanitary environment.”

[ COVID-19 affected Will County nonprofits in unique ways. Here’s how Stepping Stones Treatment Center in Joliet addressed it. ]

Renovation began in 2020 and was completed in December 2023, with minimal interruption to operations.

“We wanted to try to do the work and continue to operate,” Lauridsen said. “We started out with that approach and quickly saw that was not really feasible.”

Lauridsen said the first floor is dedicated for intensive residential treatment (15 beds) and the second floor has women’s extended care (15 beds) and extended men’s care (21 beds). This allowed for modified operations during the renovation.

He said the intensive residential treatment units remained operational during renovations on the second floor. And then the second floor units were suspended to move intensive residential treatment to that floor during the first floor renovations, he said.

This ensured that Stepping Stones could still serve people with the greatest needs, Lauridsen said.

The workout room was formerly a conference room, which was moved to the first floor, Lauridsen said. Stepping Stones added the workout room because clients had requested it and from a “physical fitness standpoint,” he said.

“The clients really enjoy it,” he said.