GRAEF is the leading structural engineer for the project.

A groundbreaking ceremony was recently held for the brand-new Aero Special Cooperative on the former Queen of Peace High School property in Burbank, Illinois.

AERO provides special education services to 400 full-time students from 11-member public school districts. The special education cooperative has offered special education programming and related services in the southwest suburbs to students with physical and intellectual disabilities.

For the first time in the special education cooperative's 58-year history, all 400 AERO students will be under one roof, with space to accommodate 200 more. When complete, the project is expected to be one of the largest special education schools in Illinois.

Plans call for a 150,000-square-foot, 2-story building. The campus will have two courtyards and offer wheelchair accessibility with two elevators. When completed, the cooperative will open as the AERO Therapeutic Center.

Elected officials including Gov. J.B Pritzker, and area state legislators Sen. Bill Cunningham (18th District), Reps. Kelly Burke (36th District) and Fran Hurley (35th District) joined the event.