Second Massage Salon Hopes to Move to Woodridge

The will vote Thursday if a second massage establishment will open in the village. 

Simple Kneads Massage and Bodywork is currently located in Naperville. The company would like to relocate to the Hobson Ridge Office Park, located at the southeast corner of Hobson Road and Route 53.

Last year, the village in the Woodgrove Festival Shopping Center. That location is a B-2 zoning district. 

Massage establishments have not been approved for the Hobson Ridge Office Park, which is in a OSB zoning district. The board will need to approve another village code amendment to make the change to village code. 

The Woodridge Plan Commission approved the code amendment 6-0 on Feb. 20. 

"Staff feels that massage establishments are an appropriate use for the OSB zoning district as it is similar to other service uses permitted in the district, such as barbershops, beauty salons, and medical and dental clinics," according to village documents. 

Before the village code changes, massage was restricted to no more than 20 percent of the floor area of a barbershop, beauty salon, medical and dental clinic, health club and massage training institute.

Prospective Elements franchise owner Anita Sheth, a former Woodridge resident who now lives in Burr Ridge, submitted an application to make the change last year to open Elements Therapeutic Massage in the Woodgrove Festival Center near 75th Street and Lemont Road. 

According to the ordinance, the village will require any massage facility to obtain a village license, which will include a thorough background check on the license applicant. The village will conduct compliance checks after the license is issued. Massage therapists working at the facility also must have a license.

The ordinance also outlines the requirements for the business to function, with emphasis on the cleanliness of the facility and the need for nontransparent garments covering the sexual and genital areas of therapists and clients.

Elements Therapeutic Massage plans to open the first week of April.